Uncharted: The Tales of Cassie Drake
by The Alpha Gray Wolf
Summary: The origin and evolutionary story of Cassie Drake as she travels all over the globe, fighting villains, encountering the supernatural, and discovering the undiscovered with her sidekick, Derek Lowell. Dating all the way back to the age of seventeen, Cassie's life has been filled with adventures and these untold stories finally come to life. Starring Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell.
1. The Underworld

**Disclaimer: I only own the stuff I made up. The rest belongs to the rightful owners.**

**Author's Note: These fanfiction one-shots are short stories, but are confirmed canon to the Cassie and Derek stories. They serve as either prequels or sequels.**

* * *

**Cassie Drake: The Daughter of Nathan Drake, seventeen, inexperienced, and a college student with a dry sense of humor.**

**Derek Lowell: Cassie's best friend, observant sidekick, and male equivalent.**

**Prof. Harvey: Cassie and Derek's college professor who takes them on a trip to Easter Island.**

**Peyton Piers: A sociopathic student at Cassie's college and bully.**

* * *

**Extended summary**

**Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell, two seventeen-year-old students at the University of Hawaii in Maui go on their very first adventure. It starts when they're fifteen, and concludes when they are seventeen. They get a glimpse of the life that they were destined for and the evolution from curious students to amateur archaeologists. Time to go back to where it all started on Easter Island.**

* * *

_It's not what you find, it's what you find out._

_David Hurst Thomas_

June 2029

Maui, Hawaii

Cassandra Drake ran as fast as she could. She looked back not once. She was happy she was in good shape. She was going to beat her best friend in a race. But she lost by several inches. Cassie looked at her fifteen-year-old best friend as she was catching her breath. His name was Derek Williamson Lowell, standing at five-eleven, one-sixty pounds, curly brown hair, hazel-brown eyes, fair skin, and a ripped athletic build and he was Cassandra 'Cassie' Drake's best friend.

"Good job Derek. I will get you next time though." She shook Derek's hand.

"We'll see about that Daughter of Nathan Drake," Derek said with a laugh. He stared at her hazel-green eyes (through her contacts) and wavy dirty blonde hair that reached her neck.

"So, before we have to head down, you want to go exploring?" Cassie asked.

"Why not. The jungle is right over there," he pointed. The two began running into the jungle. Cassie looked at her watch and decided that they will go adventuring for ten minutes before turning home.

They noticed someone digging with a pick. They got a closer look at the man. He looked nothing like an archeologist. He was a graverobber. He found something metallic in the ground with his metal detector. He was going to unearth something then sell it for money and hammered the shovel into the ground.

Cassie and Derek hid behind a tree and watched as he unearthed something. It looked like a tablet of some sorts.

"A tablet of unknown origins," the graverobber said softly, wiping it clean of the dirt. "How much would people pay for this?" He began examining the tablet. He murmurs that it must have been handcrafted by ancient Polynesians and attempts to read some of the writing. It was written in an ancient language that he couldn't understand. "When you have a college degree in History, you need to know the language," he commented to himself. He puts the tablet down on the ground and when he turned his head away and turned back, it was gone.

The graverobber looked over his shoulder and saw Cassie running with the tablet and Derek following. He gives chase. Cassie and Derek were fifteen and the graverobber was seven years older. He easily caught up to them.

He grabs Derek by the collar and Cassie by the shoulder. "Nice try you, stupid kids. Trying to steal my treasure."

"Get the hell off me!" Cassie told while struggling. She tried breaking out of his grip but speaking in combat terms, she was unable to. Derek was barely holding his own. The graverobber was surprisingly strong enough to overpower both teenagers.

"I will let you both go if you give me the tablet," the graverobber ordered firmly. Cassie knew better and gave him the tablet, deciding that it wasn't worth her fifteen-year-old life. The graverobber smiled at the table and let them both go as a result. He looked at the language before looking at Cassie. "Are you super smart in history, kid?" the graverobber asked both Cassie and Derek.

"I guess we are," Cassie answered. Even if they were going to die, why not just go out with a bang and read something historic. They were freed and had every opportunity to run but they both chose not to.

"You look familiar," the graverobber squinted at Cassie. "How about this, you tell me everything you know about this tablet and maybe I'll give you kids something in exchange for your troubles in trying to steal it in the first place?"

Cassie shrugged and then began telling the graverobber everything she knew about the ancient Polynesians and how the tablet could have been crafted. "Now can you compensate us, graverobber?" She asked politely.

The graverobber recognized her. "Now I recognize you. You're Cassie Drake, The Daughter of Nathan Drake. I am a huge fan of his work." He looks down at the tablet. Cassie and Derek could have run, but they were curious and he sensed it. To be talking to Nathan Drake's daughter was like a dream come true for him. "Cassie, do you know the kind of life your parents used to run before you were born?"

"Yes," she answered; her parents told her everything.

"I am fully aware of their lives too," Derek also admitted.

The graverobber gave a long sigh before he regarded Cassie. "Y'know what, Cassie? Take this tablet. It belongs to someone like you. I can already see you turning into your father." He hands her the tablet and she accepts it graciously like a fan being given something by their idol.

She was about to leave with Derek, but curiosity got the better of her. "What's your name?"

"Rick."

* * *

Two Years Later

June 2031

"Alex Sierra Anderson!" The principal called and everyone cheered. Alex got up and went to receive her diploma.

Cassie smiled at the gown she wore. She was graduating from high school at seventeen along with Derek. She now stood at five-foot-eight and had slightly longer hair but still retained her waviness and dirty blonde color. Derek was now six-foot-one and a little more muscular.

Cassie stared into the audience. Her mother, father, grandfather, uncle, aunt, and three cousins (including her newborn one) watched as she was about to receive her diploma at this very moment.

"Robert Gerald Bowman," the principal called out. Robert went to collect his diploma. The principal began calling out more names and they all received their diplomas. "Marcus Jackson Cleveland. Anthony Gray Daniels. Paul Mitchell Dorrance."

Cassie's eyes went wide as she expected to hear her name being called. "Cassandra Morgan Drake." Nate, Elena, Sam, Magna, Andy, Nancy, and Sully cheered as loud as they could as they saw Cassie receive her diploma.

She joined the group who were already called and waited for Derek to be called up. "Derek Williamson Lowell." Cassie cheered for her friend and so did Derek's parents in the crowd. Derek got his diploma and walked towards the crowd people.

Cassie and Derek stood at different distances from each other and watched as the others received their diplomas.

After everyone got their diplomas, the principal said a few words into the mic. She gave a very inspirational speech about how everyone who graduated had earned their place in society and they deserve to get their diplomas. At least 97% of over four hundred and fifty seniors were going to college. After the principal gave her inspiration speech, everyone cheered and clapped.

Like every tradition that followed, all seniors threw their caps into the air and the crowd went wild.

"Seniors, enjoy the rest of your lives," the principal says one last time into the mic.

While every senior was cheering, Cassie and Derek reunited and hugged each other tightly. When they were done, Cassie and Derek looked at each other in the eye with a smile on each other's faces. "Well, D-Man, how does it feel now that we are free of school?!" she shouted through the loud crowd.

"It feels good, Cassie!" Derek answered delightfully. He stared at her for a very brief moment and all of a sudden, his heart dropped to his stomach. He dropped his smile. When he looked into Cassie's eyes, he didn't see a girl who had been his friend since they were ten, he saw someone who he liked. Someone who he suddenly fell in love with. Cassie and Derek first met each other on the first day of fourth grade and became instant best friends. They have been best friends for a very long time, but now, Derek was starting to develop feelings for Cassie.

He leans in to kiss her, but something interrupts them. Nate and Elena were calling out to Cassie. Derek waved goodbye and went to regroup with his parents.

"Hey Cassie, we can't tell you how proud we are of you," her mother said.

"You graduating as a senior at seventeen, you got my intelligence from me," her father spoke next.

Her uncle and grandfather hugged Cassie tightly. Her uncle asked the question, "So now that you are free from school, now what?"

She already had an answer and with a smile, she said, "Well, I already filled out an application for several colleges and I was accepted by one. Derek and I have been accepted into the University of Hawaii in Maui. As of 2029, it's the best school for archeology in the country."

"Man, I love that college. It's the best for what field she wants," her mother supposed.

"It's close at least," her father interjected.

"And your parents didn't have to pay for it," her grandfather went in with a laugh.

* * *

Two weeks later

"It has been barely two weeks since the school's over and you are already going to college," Cassie's mother almost cried.

"I know. I'm moving my stuff there. I won't live there until August," Cassie clarified.

"It feels like only yesterday that you were wearing diapers." Her mother began crying. "You kids grow up so fast." She hugs Cassie tightly.

"Mom, I am still gonna be here. If it makes you happy, I will visit every holiday."

"You come every day after school. I always want to make sure my baby girl is okay." Her mother released Cassie from her hug.

Cassie's father came into Cassie's room and hugged Cassie tightly. Saying no words, Cassie knew she didn't need to say anything. Neither did her father.

Her parents personally drove Casie to the University of Hawaii in Maui. This place was beautiful, bright with its school colors across the walls, and most of all, it was free.

"This place is magnificent," Mother said in awe.

"And it's free," Father said.

"Whatever you say, cheapskate," Mother countered.

"I ain't cheap."

Cassie ignored them and picked up a few stacked boxes and took them to her dorm. Mother and Father following.

"This is officially going to be your place for the next several years until you get your Ph.D. in eight years. You'll be twenty-five by then," Father pointed out.

"Well, I will be twenty-four when I get my Master's Degree and twenty-six when I get my Ph.D. in archaeology. So nine years, technically," Cassie corrected. "Derek is also minoring in Art history."

"Well, the most important thing to remember when you are in college is to study hard and have fun," Mother told.

Derek and his parents came into the room. Derek's mother Erica and his father, Richard said hello to Cassie's parents.

"Hey, Cassie. You move your stuff here?"

"Yeah, college starts in August." Cassie laughed at Derek.

Derek felt his heartbeat increase.

"So, how have you been D-Man?"

"Good, been looking up some archeological sites around the world that we could visit during our time off. There is one currently on Easter Island."

"Easter Island, I have always wanted to go there."

"Me too. I heard a rumor from one of the professors say that we may go to Easter Island and learn about the Moai statues."

Cassie smiled before sighing. "I hope that rumor is true."

Cassie set her stuff down on the ben and helped Derek out. "So D-Man, you are my roommate for the next nine years."

Derek paused and felt like passing out. He felt like he was being implied that he and Cassie might start a relationship. "Yes."

"Good. I wonder if we could join a frat."

* * *

Two months later

Cassie now slept in her dorm room with Derek on the other side of the room. In six hours, the first day of college was going to start. She was very nervous. Her mother gave her some advice about college and it calmed her down a bit. When she felt like she couldn't sleep, she watched the 1993 _Cliffhanger _movie starring Sylvester Stallone and Michael Rooker on her phone.

Eventually, Cassie did fall asleep. She was awoken by her alarm clock. She got out of bed and saw Derek waking up in the other bed. "What a night," She muttered to herself. "I dreamt of falling off a mountain, yet I survived somehow."

She looked at the time. Class started in exactly one hour. Plenty of time to take a ten-minute shower. She quickly gathers her clothes and goes into the bathroom to take a shower.

Derek was too impatient to wait to take a shower and decided to take one in the men's room. However, someone put up a men's room sign over the women's room sign and Derek walked right into the ladies locker room.

He realized too late that he was in the ladies room. No woman saw him as all their backs were turned. Derek immediately ran out as fast as he could and decided to wait for Cassie to finish up showering. He hoped no girl saw him in the ladies room because from what he heard in college, rumors spread like a wildfire ten times faster than any rumor in high school.

"Hey Derek," Cassie called upon noticing Derek's return. "Where ya been?" Derek was too embarrassed to talk. He just went into the shower. Cassie gathered her books and went out into the hallway. There was a herd of people walking all across campus.

She waited for Derek to come out and walk her to class. Derek came out, wearing nice clothes and he escorted her to her first class which was Anthropology.

Cassie sat in the front row seat and Derek sat beside her. Since the class was getting ready to start in two minutes, Cassie took out her book about the First Crusade and read it. The First Crusade started in 1095 and ended in 1099. _A long time to wait_.

The bell rang, time to learn. A young middle-aged man came into the room wearing square glasses and a red and blue striped tie. "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Professor Harvey and I hope you have a taste for ancient civilizations because our topic for the entire will semester will be Anthropology."

Cassie and Derek listened to every single word that he said. Until they overheard some girls talking about some guy that came running out the ladies locker room while they were showering. Derek said nothing but kept a good and straight poker face that was enough to throw Cassie's suspicions off of him.

"Now, in today's lesson, we are going to talk about a lost civilization on Easter Island. Any of you guys that have gone to Easter Island have probably seen the Moai statues. Well, several archaeologists at Easter Island have just found out that the ancient Polynesians had a massive and almost advanced civilization there. We have several tablets to prove it. All of the tablets are written in an ancient language that nobody had been able to translate so far."

Harvey draws the Polynesian tablet. Cassie and Derek immediately recognized it as the one that Rick tried to steal two years ago, but gave it to Cassie.

She smiles with a cocky expression. "I can read the Polynesian language," She says to herself proudly.

She raises her hand and Harvey calls on her. She was called up to the board and was writing the language on the board and read it. "It translates that the Polynesians built the Moai Statues not only with their bare hands but a supernatural force from a lost city underground called Hawaiki. The tablet says that the Polynesians made seven other tablets that act as maps to find Hawaiki. This tablet says whoever possess the power in Hawaiki, has the potential to be invincible, invulnerable to any physical attack and build empires in a single day. That power is unstable though."

A young student in the crowd smiled at this idea. The idea of being unkillable sounded like a sweet idea to him that he shook in his sneaker. He now set himself a goal. He was going to find Hawaiki and grant himself the power of Hawaiki. He had nothing to show for himself and he had been wronged too many times in his life and it was time to even the score.

* * *

October 2031

Ahu Tongariki, Easter Island

Two months later, Harvey took Cassie, Derek, and twenty-three other students to Easter Island for research on the moai statues. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for taking the time to join us on our research lab tour of Easter Island," the lead scientist said.

The twenty-five students were inside a big research facility that looked like something right out of a science fiction movie. There were advanced laboratory equipment and all kinds of unidentified insects. Right now, the lead scientist, a thinning young ginger-haired woman, who was showing everyone the science lab and in the science lab, research about the mysterious tablets were everywhere.

Cassie was taking huge interests in this little field trip. She and Derek did a little digging around, hoping that they were about to unearth a miniature moai statue, only to discover that it was just a shovel. Other than that, everything was perfect. Until someone shoved her. She was able to maintain her balance and turned around to see who it was. It was none other than Peyton Piers, a six-foot-tall, red-haired, blue-eyed, tan-skinned, Oahu native, an eighteen-year-old jerky college kid who frequently physically and verbally bullied Cassie, but not Derek. But his friends Andrew Lorentz - who was seventeen, African-American and stood at five-foot-ten, had wavy brown hair and eyes - and William Valentine - a sixteen-year-old Maui native with straight black hair, brown eyes, and heavy weighted - did, however.

"Leave me alone Peyton," Cassie demanded as she faced him.

Peyton did nothing but laugh with a hint of sadism in his voice. "Or what Cassie Drake?"

"Or else I will punch you in the nose."

"Yeah right, I dare you to." Peyton laughed with his friends.

"Hey Peyton, how about we beat up both of them after tonight?" William suggested aloud. "Andrew and I can take turns punching Derek while you can beat the shit out of Cassie."

Harvey appeared behind Cassie seemingly out of nowhere. "What is going on over here?"

Peyton and his friends said nothing, but Cassie and Derek were about to talk and deny until Harvey was called back.

"Peyton, Andrew, William, I am warning you. Leave us alone or things will get dicey," Cassie threatened.

"Looks like the bitch is threatening us," Peyton told his friends. They laugh before walking off.

Derek pats Cassie on the back. "We came here to learn, not to fight. Let's get back on schedule."

Cassie and Derek caught up with the other students.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, what you are seeing on the projector is a picture of all of the Moai statues on the island. If you notice, the tablets bear a striking resemblance to the moai statues, especially with the ancient Polynesian language. It's spectacular. According to one of your students, you said that Hawaiki may be here on Easter Island. Well, with the tablet translated, we can most certainly find out."

Cassie liked what the lead scientist said. It made her feel like she made something. She remembered a quote that David Hurst Thomas said. _It's not about what you find, it's about what you find out._ She was going to make her quotes one of these days.

"By the way, what was the name of that student who translated the Polynesian language on the tablet?"

Cassie raised her hand. The lead scientist asked how she knew ancient Polynesian. "My dad taught me, just like he taught me Latin. I have one of the tablets back home in Maui."

"You think you could ask someone to bring it, we may need it in our search for Hawaiki?" The lead scientist asked politely.

"I think I can." She took out her phone and called the two people she trusted besides Derek. Her friend halted her, saying before they left, he acquired the tablet for her because it would make sense to bring it with them on the trip. "Derek, you beautiful son of a bitch."

About an hour later, Cassie and Derek were now eating at a restaurant with the other twenty-three students and their college professor. When nobody was looking, Peyton, who was sitting beside Cassie, poured apple juice in her hair. She flips out and punches him hard in the face. He goes falling off the table and went landing on his hard on his back to the ground.

He puts a finger to his lips and growls when he realized that he was bleeding. Everybody saw this little incident happening but nobody did anything, just resumed eating. It was like this happened daily, and it ironically happens regularly back in Maui.

"Thanks for the punch to the mouth Cassie. I think I'll be leaving now," Peyton groaned in a somewhat sad voice.

"Wait, Peyton doesn't go. Cassie, you assaulted Peyton," Andrew berated.

"Me? He shoved me earlier, which is considered assault, and he wanted to punch me. I just returned the favor."

"That is correct, Cassie, Peyton, if you mess with Cassie again, then I will personally make sure you fail my class," Harvey threatened.

"Fine." Peyton sat back in his seat next to William and Andrew.

Cassie and Derek finished their bowl of soup and ordered dessert off the menu. "Hey Cassie, you should try the gumbo pie, it's amazing," Derek told.

"Okay, I trust you," Cassie asked the waitress for two of the gumbo pie.

After they finished, Derek was waiting for Cassie to answer. "I gotta say, Derek, the French sure know how to make a pie."

"Actually, it's not only pie, but it's also a dish and even a drink," he said.

"I would love to see France."

"So, is everyone satisfied with their meal?" Harvey asked. He looked at everyone, especially at Peyton and his two troublemakers.

Everyone nodded.

Cassie, Derek, Harvey and the twenty-three students got up after paying the check and they left the restaurant.

"Hey Cassie, you think you can take the tablet with us when we go to the moai statues again?" Harvey asked.

"Sure."

"Okay." Harvey began escorting them to their hotel.

Cassie and Derek slept in the same room with several other students. Derek slept on the couch while the others slept in the other beds.

Cassie woke up a few hours later and it was still night time. She went to the kitchen to get a midnight snack. She pulls out a turkey sandwich and consumes it. When she turned around, she saw the silhouette of a human figure.

"Is that you Derek?" The figure says nothing. She tried to make out his face but the total darkness in the room hid his face. Cassie moved forward toward a nearby table lamp and attempts to turn it on. As soon as her hands find the lever, the figure slapped her hand away and slapped Cassie across the cheek, knocking her to the floor.

"I hope you enjoyed your meal. It's your last meal you'll ever eat." The figure's voice boomed. It was so well disguised, she could not recognize it.

Cassie tried to get up but was stunned to see that Derek was still sleeping on the couch.

"You are probably wondering who we are." The figure said 'We' instead of 'I'.

Cassie was grabbed behind by another figure. The first figure began punching her hard in the stomach. "Cassie, we are not done yet. You better be ready for us next time."

Then, Cassie heard a yell and the first figure being tackled to the ground. "You never punch a girl!" a familiar voice shouted.

"Derek." She recognized the voice.

While still being grabbed from behind, the second figure throws her to the side and begins assaulting her with some kind of object. She was stuck in the head and immediately lost consciousness.

She then woke up in a groggy state, slowing peeling her eyes open. Above her was light. She was in the hospital. Beside her was none other than Derek, who had his lips bruised and bloody and a black eye.

"D-Man, what happened?" She squirms uncomfortably in her bed worriedly.

"Well, you sustained head trauma with a metal rod to the forehead, you have a black eye, a stitched cheek after you were whacked in your right cheek and you have a broken index finger on your right hand," he told as he rehearsed.

"No, what happened to you?" Cassie corrected before she thanked him for his concern. "But thanks for telling me about my damage."

"No problem. I sustained a minor head injury, a black eye, busted lip, and a few broken ribs. Other than that, I have received a wound to my shoulder after the first attacker stabbed me with a pencil."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. You've been out for six hours. Doctors said you are lucky to have survived. The police are currently trying to figure out who the would-be assailants are."

"I got a pretty good idea." Cassie was thinking of Peyton, Andrew, and William. "I'm thinking of Peyton, Andrew, and William."

"I can see why, but the Prof. says that he was with the three all night and only fell asleep after the assault happened."

"Our teacher must be in on it. Peyton must have paid him off, or worse." Cassie thought of the worse. She looks around the hospital room and the instruments that were in her arms. "How long do I have to be here?"

"The doctor recommends that you stay in bed for at least a week."

She has a sudden flashback. The first assailant told Cassie that they weren't done with her and they would be back. "The first attacker said 'we' which means more than one. There is at least two. He also called me by my first name and he said that I was wondering who they were."

"Did you recognized the voice?"

"No, it was so well disguised, maybe they used a voice modifier."

"Okay, let's look at the clues here." Derek gave a long sigh. "These people know who you are, are masters of disguise, and they were aware of the room you were in. I was half asleep and not once did I hear the door open."

"So, they must have either snuck into our room when we were gone or a secret passageway. They were dressed in all black. Why would they want to attack me? What have I done to them?"

Derek's eyes widened at an idea but it was more out of sarcasm though. "How about this for an idea, what if it was Peyton, Andrew, and William?"

"But you said Harvey was up all night and did not see them leave the room."

"No, before you woke up, Harvey was talking in a very slurred voice as if he was drunk. At the restaurant, he did not drink at all. I vaguely remember before going to bed that he drank water. Maybe the water was filled with some kind of drug."

"That's a good theory. We need to investigate. Until then D-Man, let's keep this between us."

"Sure thing." He adjusts her bed. "Let's get you out of this bed. You can sleep with me tonight in my room at this other hotel."

Cassie chuckled at him and patted him on the back, "Don't get the wrong idea buddy boy."

"I wasn't thinking of that until now that you have said it."

Several hours later, Cassie, who had ejected herself out of the hospital, had settled in Derek's room in the hotel he mentioned. After they settled down and made sure that Cassie's finger was wrapped tight in a cast, Derek went on to solving crimes like some kind of 1940s detective.

Derek went back into the hotel that Prof. Harven rented them in and went into the room that Harvey, Peyton, Andrew, and Williams slept. Nothing had been touched since Cassie went to the hospital. Derek put on latex gloves to avoid disturbing the police evidence and began investigating.

He picked up the glass of water that Harvey drank. There was still a little water in and so was some kind of substance at the bottom. Derek pours some of the water onto a paper plate. He removes one of his latex gloves and dips his finger in the substance. It felt very slimy. He sniffed it and it smelled like a wet dog hair. It was most certainly a drug, but what kind of drug? One to temporarily blind Harvey.

Superdetective Derek goes back to his room at his hotel to tell Cassie about his investigations. When he opens the door, he is confused at what he saw, Cassie kissing another guy. Derek just stood at the doorway, watching as they kissed. The guy's back was turned and Cassie's eyes were closed so nobody noticed him.

Derek felt his heart drop to his stomach. He was hurt and saddened. He turns around and walks out of the room, deciding to wait for the guy to leave. He never felt this feeling in his heart before. He was truly heartbroken. His heartfelt like it broke and snapped right in half, then stomped on the ground with someone's boot.

When the guy leaves the room, Derek walks right in, trying to put on the best poker face he could but his emotions would remain unchanged.

"Hey, Cassie," he waved at her. She gave a blank expression at him. "So, I finally found the drug in Professor Harvey's drink. It's some kind of sticky substance when it comes into contact with your fingers. I was able to look up some hallucinogenic drugs just a few minutes ago." He wasn't lying. While waiting for the guy to leave, he did research hallucinogenic drugs. "One of the hallucination drugs I found was a brand called 'Hawk-Eyed' which means that people who have been drugged only see what they want to see. And Peyton's father is a pharmacist."

Cassie leaned forward. "So, but why would Peyton want to hurt me?" Cassie wondered. "Other than the fact that he is a douchebag."

Derek remembered a few months back. "You know, when you translated the tablet on the board two months ago, when you mentioned that whoever possesses Hawaiki is invincible, I saw in the corner of my eye, Peyton smiling."

It didn't take long for Cassie to deduce, "So Peyton and his two buds after Hawaiki. Why attack me?"

"Maybe they are trying to force you to find the lost city for them," he suggested.

"Seems pretty legit. But, if they want the lost cities, they need tablets, which act like maps. Most likely." Her eyes widened. "Derek, where did you put the tablet that we found two years ago? If Peyton finds it, he might get what he wants. We got to figure out that puzzle before he does." She jumps up from her bed. "Peyton may be an asshole, but when he sets his mind on something, he has to be dead to give up."

"It's safe in my bag which has been unopened." His minds leave for another matter. "By the way, what was the name of that guy who was kissing you?" he asked rather quickly.

"That was Fidel, hotel housekeeping," she answered with a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "I didn't want to kiss him. He forced me to if I wanted painkillers. His breath smelt horrible though."

Derek gave a long sigh and glared. His heartfelt better already, but still felt stabbed. "Okay then." He already had a plan. No doubt was he going to make Fidel pay for not only forcing Cassie to kiss him but for also psychologically torturing himself. "I'm going to punch that guy in the throat until he can't sing anymore."

"Focus, where is your bag?"

"It's in a locker at the airport at the beach," he answered.

Unfortunately, William had already gotten to Derek's bag first. Unfortunately, Prof. Harvey followed him and when he noticed, he took Prof. Harvey hostage and grabbed him by the throat. He was taking Prof. Harvey and the bag away from the beach and to a cliff.

"So, Prof. Harvey, why did you have to follow me?" William asked curiously as he took out a knife and pushed Harvey to the cliffs.

"I was getting a little concerned for my students," Harvey deadpanned. "All this over a tablet?"

"An ancient Polynesian tablet!"

"Whatever."

"That was found in Hawaii," the villain continued said. The professor noticed how William's eye went bright with anticipation.

"So, how are the moai statues?" Harvey asked. "I've been to Easter Island several years ago, before Cassie."

Suddenly, William kicked Harvey in the groin area and caused the professor to fold over with a pained groan. He puts the knife to his throat and demands, "Jump, and I will not painfully kill you."

Professor Harvey raised his hands slowly above his head but stayed on the ground.

"Why William? Why would you do this?" he asked with distress.

"It's simple. Cassie translated the language on the tablets and revealed that whoever rules Hawaiki is paid handsomely with invincibility and invulnerability. This is my good friend's dream. I don't believe in these myths or anything, but I owe my friend a favor and he is calling in the favor." William answered. "Now jump over the cliff. Don't make me force you."

"Please?" Harvey begged.

"Now!" William forced.

Harvey very slowly got up. He turned around slowly and just as he was turning, he quickly punched William. He punched William hard in the jaw and almost sent him flying off the edge. William hits Harvey in the stomach with the hilt of the knife.

Harvey hit William in the face with a rock and distorted him. William strikes him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Now with Harvey on the ground, William tosses the knife to the side and pulls out a pistol to aim at Harvey.

"Now you are in for it." William loaded a magazine into the pistol. "Goodbye." He makes sure the safety is off. He fires. The bullet misses Harvey's head by inches. Cassie tackled William to the ground, the gun sliding away. With Cassie on top, William flips her over so she lands on her back. William recovers faster and stomps on Cassie. William was then grappled from behind by Derek. William uses all his strength to hit Derek with his head and disorient him.

William breaks free and punches him in the ribs painfully, knocking him to the ground.

William looked over and saw Cassie was hanging from a handhold, over the cliff. She was losing her grip pretty quickly.

"Cassie, now you are really in for it." William stomps on Cassie's right hand hard, making her lose her grip. She was now hanging by one hand. She looks below her and sees at the beach ground fifty-two feet below her. "It is time to die, Cassie. Although I wish I could keep you alive. I would treat you right." He put his foot on Cassie's left hand and puts on all his weight on it.

"I hope you enjoy the fall," William said. A gunshot went off. Blood seeped from William's left shoulder and dripped on Cassie's forehead. William winced in agony. Willaim turned and saw Harvey with the pistol with smoke emitting from the barrel. He roars and charges at Harvey. He tackles the professor to the ground which caused the gun to go flying ahead. Once Willaim tackled Harvey to the ground, the gun bounced off the ground and unintentionally discharged a bullet which went right into William's skull.

Cassie climbed back up and saw William's frozen corpse being pushed back by Harvey. She was too terrified to look at the villain's corpse and looked away.

Harvey crawled away from the corpse while Derek planted himself in front of Cassie to shield her vision from the corpse.

The only thing that Cassie could say was: "That was nothing like the movies."

* * *

A few days have passed since William died. Harvey had wanted to cancel the trip early but severe thunderstorms made flights back to the US impossible and Petyon had vanished. Cassie was still in her recovering room with Derek in there with her.

"So, since our little encounter with William, the students have been distant from us," Derek announced.

"They believe we killed William in cold blood," Cassie told her friend. William's death had been his fault.

"It was either him or you Cassie, and I wasn't going to let anything happen to you."

Cassie smiled at what he said. It made her feel loved, a lot. "Thanks, D-Man."

Derek shows her the tablet. "So, this is the thing that Peyton and Andrew are after?" He observed the tablet thoroughly.

"Well, from the one thing I read, but not aloud to the class, it tells that two other tablets are required and it shows a map of the tablets locations," she answered. Derek hands her the tablet and she begins reading it. "The first tablet is located at Ahu Tahai. The second is located on Hanga Piko."

"Okay then. Now we know where to go?"

"What about Peyton and Andrew, what if they sneak in, as you said, beat me up, and take the tablet and force me to translate?" she asked. "What I am saying is they might follow us. We should find the other tablets and destroy them so no one can possess Hawaiki."

"Destroy Hawaiki, when we could study the place?"

"Derek, let me ask you something."

"Go on."

"Put yourself into the shoes of a psycho."

"Okay," Derek complied hesitantly.

"If you found a place like Hawaiki, and the legend says whoever possess Hawaiki, possess the power to be invincible, what would you do?"

Derek thought for a second. "Well, I would use it for power, since I am a psychopath." That was his honest answer.

"This is exactly what Peyton and Andrew are planning to do. If they possess Hawaiki, then who knows how many innocents they could kill. We should destroy the lost city. In our parents' experience, some lost cities are better off destroyed. But there is still a part of me that feels that if we just destroy everything, then it would all feel anticlimactic. I think we should at least see if the stories are true or something."

Derek gave a long nod. "If we could find a lost city, we could become legends. People will talk about us and we will never be known as the daughter of our legendary parents."

Cassie decided that she couldn't argue with Derek on that one. If they were going to become legends, then they should at least make themselves known for finding Hawaiki. "Of course you're right, only for this time," she jokes.

"Okay, so we find Hawaiki, explore it, destroy it, document it. Okay then." Derek patted her on the shoulder in support. "Okay, so do we start in Ahu Tahai or Hanga Piko?"

Cassie pulled out her phone and looked at the map. "Ahu Tahai is closer. So the two of us should go to Ahu Tahai."

Derek helped Cassie out of bed. "Okay, we should leave as soon as possible."

"Before we go, Cassie, I need to do something." Derek left the room to go track down Fidel and make him pay for forcing Cassie to kiss him, and for indirectly breaking his heart.

When Derek returned, he had a very big smile on his face. "A good deed has been fulfilled." He knocked Fidel out cold.

Ahu Tahai was very scenic. Thanks to a picture of an old house in the middle of nowhere on the tablet, they knew exactly where to go in Ahu Tahai. Derek had rented a 4x4 jeep and drove Cassie there.

The two climbed out and gazed at the old and rotting cabin-like house. "Wow, that looks old and very rotten," Cassie comments. _You just stated the obvious, _she thought to herself.

"So, the tablet is somewhere in the house?" Derek asked.

"Probably, maybe in a secret passageway. People have come and gone before and since people believe this place to be sacred to ancient Polynesian natives, they refused to excavate or tear down the house," she told.

"How noble of them," he replied sarcastically. "So, where do we start?"

"My money's is either in the attic, the basement, or like I said, a secret passageway."

"Let's go."

Cassie began leading the way. They opened the front door and walked in. No such furniture existed in this place at all. Cassie then thought to herself, _they refuse to excavate but they take the furniture?_

"Wow, this place is empty. But it will save us the trouble and digging through places that have been blocked by furniture," Derek said optimistically.

The two began searching everywhere. Derek was beginning to have doubts. "You know, maybe people did excavate."

"No, they didn't. This place is covered in cobwebs, not a single footprint in sight other than ours," Cassie stated firmly. "Perhaps the Polynesians didn't put in furniture." She finds a hole in the wall. She looks through it and sees nothing but darkness.

Cassie and Derek look at the ground. There was something covered in cobwebs. Cassie crouches down to move away cobwebs. There was something carved into the floor. Cassie blows away the dust and finds a trapdoor. "D-Man, look at this. Go get the crowbar." He nodded and runs off the jeep. He returns with a crowbar. "Derek, a trapdoor that has been hidden by cobwebs. Old but nearly unnoticeable."

Derek uses the crowbar to pry open the trapdoor. Dust filled the air around them.

"Dusk to Dawn," she jokes but Derek shook his head no.

"Not a good one Cassie. _Dust_ this trapdoor get unlocked."

"Okay, now you're making puns." Cassie and Derek laugh at their bickering.

Cassie and Derek yank open the door. They both gazed down into the abyss of darkness. "Well well well, a trapdoor inside a house. Never seen before y' know," Cassie smirked. "Who's going first?"

"Ladies first," said Derek.

"So that includes you, Derek."

"Haha, very funny. If I am a girl, then what are you, Cassie Drake?"

"A woman."

"Don't you have to older than twelve to be a woman?"

"I'm seventeen."

"I know." Derek smiles.

"Okay, enough with this stalling. Still, ladies first."

After both of them descended into the hole, Cassie and Derek turned on their flashlights. They were in some kind of cave. This cave was decorated with a Polynesian culture like paintings of warriors on the wall but nothing out of the ordinary yet.

"You know, one thing that questions me is, how does one possess Hawaiki? It is the original homeland of the Polynesians." Cassie waited for Derek's input.

"Got me. Maybe it's some kind of weapon hidden there. Or maybe some kind of substance," he suggested.

Cassie gave a sour face. "Maybe it means something else."

"Maybe Hawaiki is a weapon," he shrugged.

"Whatever Hawaiki is, we can't let Peyton or Andrew claim it." The two began walking down the cave. This place looked to be thousands of years old by either of their estimations. Derek was softly caressing the paintings. This was because aside from archaeology, he was an avid artist, mostly a painter. His grandfather told him at four-years-old, that he met Pablo Picasso in 1970 before he died. Ever since then, Derek has become a lover in arts and painting. He is an amazing painter, almost as good as Pablo Picasso himself.

"You know, when I become a fulltime archeologist, I will become a part-time artist. A painter by day, an archaeologist by night."

"Derek, when you make an amazing painting, I will personally visit it in the Art Gallery."

"Really?"

"That is a promise."

At the end of the cave, there was something hidden in between these two rocks. Cassie moved forward cautiously and gazed at the object. It was silver. There was only one thing it could be. The second tablet. "Lookie lookie." She grabs the tablet with extreme caution. She shows it to her friend. "The second tablet." It was just as beautiful as the first one. She begins murmuring to herself, reading. _The Polynesian deity, also known as Makemake lies at the base of the statues. He will need to move forward. He must take upon a new form. We used to call him Hawaiki and now, he is in danger of being trapped in the statues. We must find a new form for him. If all three tablets were combined, then we can finally free Makemake._

"Oh god." She was scared. In Rapa Nui mythology, Makemake was the creator of humanity and the god of fertility. She reads it to Derek. "Hawaiki is just another name for Makemake. Whoever finds and combines the three tablets free Makemake. And listen to this."

_The one who frees Makemake is promised to be invincible._

"Shit, now we know why Peyton and Andrew want Hawaiki," Cassie groans.

"No, they think Hawaiki is an underworld, we hold the knowledge of the fact that Hawaiki is Makemake." Derek puts the tablet back in the rock. Just as he put it back, he hears a familiar sound. It was the sound of a gun being loaded. _Time for the usual._ He raises his hands above his head and turns around slowly. They were both held at gunpoint by both Peyton and Andrew.

"So, Cassie Drake, you just revealed to us that Hawaiki is Makemake and whoever frees him is invincible," Peyton says with a huge smile. "Thank you very much." He aims right between Cassie's eyes, showing more of his sociopathic side before he hesitates and asks. "And by the way, do you guys know what happened to William, we haven't seen him in a few days."

"So, you followed us huh? I know what happened to William. He's getting a suntan at the beach," Cassie tries to mask the trauma in her voice but he saw right through.

"So you killed him. Oh well. Give me the tablet, or I will shoot Derek in the temple and I will trap you in here with his corpse."

Cassie does not hesitate and throws Peyton the tablet, he caught it mid-air. They began backing away and towards the way they came. "Oh yeah, and the first tablet that you left in your hotel room, thank you for leaving it there for us to pick up." Peyton waves goodbye.

Peyton and Andrew had completely barricaded the entrance from the outside and the two were trapped inside. It was their plan for them to trap them. They knew they would escape somehow and would be given the impression that he and Andrew still thought they were trapped. Then they would lead them straight to the third tablet. It was a foolproof plan.

"We are trapped like goddamn rats!" Derek shouts.

"We got to find a way out!" Cassie says in a frightful voice. "Look through the walls." Cassie found a hole in the wall. She crawls through after flashing her light through the hole that was barely big enough for her to fit through.

Cassie crawled as fast as she could. There was no air in the place, she had to get out as soon as possible. Derek crawled through right after her.

"This cave goes on forever." She sees sunlight and chuckles in triumph. "Derek, I can see daylight. We're going to be alright!"

She crawled forward a few more feet, she felt like a fish wagging its tail. She crawled forward a few more feet and went tumbling down. She fell into a puddle of mud. Her back was covered in mud and a little bit on her nape and the back of her hair.

She moved out the way in time just as her friend came tumbling down. Once the pain in her back subsided, she got up. They got out and were now outside the cabin. Peyton and Andrew were nowhere in sight though.

"What a field trip," Cassie jokes. She helps her friend his feet.

Are you okay?" Derek asked with concern.

"Define 'okay'."

"Not dead, not hurt, still breathing."

"In that case, yeah, we are both okay," Cassie remembered the villains. "Yeah, we are alive, and so are Peyton and Andrew. We got to do something to stop them."

"We gotta get to Hanga Piko and fast. But where do we start?" Derek asked.

Cassie was trying so very hard to remember what the second picture on the tablet was. It was an old pine tree. "The oldest pine tree in Hanga Piko."

"Wow, very vague, but okay. Hanga Piko is small, but at least we know what we are looking for."

"Yeah. We have to get to Hanga Piko immediately. Peyton and Andrew are probably already on their way."

The two of them raced by to the 4x4 jeep. Derek hopped into the driver seat and started the engine.

"Okay, so what are the chances of Peyton and Andrew finding the other tablet?" Derek asked.

"Well, like you and I, Derek, they are archaeologists. But do miss the little things."

"Well, they drugged our teacher, so I wouldn't call them dumb or missing the little things. Unintelligent maybe. But they are somewhat smart."

"Okay then. We got to get the other tablet quickly."

Derek engaged the keys and shift the car in drive.

"So how long till we get to Hanga Piko?" Cassie asked, hopping into the passenger seat with Derek.

"Twenty-five minutes tops," Derek answered and drove off.

Twenty-two minutes later, Derek had driven to Hanga Piko. The two of them parked in the forest and somehow, the rain from the severe thunderstorms that delayed their plane trip had begun.

"I am glad we brought jackets with us," Cassie appreciated. She put on her raincoat and passed Derek's his. "I like the rain. It reminds me of the shower." Derek tried his best to not remember the incident at the college.

"Yeah," he whispered to himself.

"Okay, now it is time for us to find that pine tree."

Just behind them and out of sight, two people that were hiding in the trees were Peyton and Andrew, smiling as they felt the anticipation in knowing that they are about to get the third tablet.

Cassie and Derek were looking for every single pine tree in the forest. "Man, this is like trying to find a small needle in a big pile of haystacks," She grumbled in frustration.

"More like a huge needle in a gigantic pile of little haystack pieces," Derek retorted. "Or a needle in a stack of needles."

"Let's hope that-" Cassie began but was interrupted.

"Found it!" Derek called out.

Cassie followed the sound of Derek's voice and found him at a small pine tree that was about seven feet in height. The decayed bark off the three indicated that it was the oldest tree in the area at least. "Cassie, we found the tree that the third tablet lays dormant inside."

"But how do we get it?" They searched everywhere for a hole in the tree. They found nothing so Cassie leaned against the small tree and it fell forward, taking Cassie with. Hidden underneath the trunk of the tree was the third and final tablet.

"Cool, we found it," Derek exclaimed. He picks up the tablet and examines it.

"Beautiful." Cassie groaned as she got up. She looked at Derek who then handed her the table and began deciphering the third and final tablet.

_Hawaiki is more than a deity, it is still an underground world, but invisible to our naked eyes. If someone was to combine all three stone tablets at the statues, then they will go to the underworld. Where Hawaiki is trapped._

Cassie read to her friend. As if one cue, Peyton and Andrew appeared, this time with four other people with guns all aimed at the four.

They raise their hands and Cassie hands Peyton the tablet after several minutes of hesitating.

"Cassie, once again, we would like to thank you for all three tablets and for giving us the location of where we free Makemake and gain invincibility," Peyton said in a melodramatic voice.

"Well, it's our pleasure to help out villains," Cassie shrugged nonchalantly. "Once you are invincible Peyton, Andrew, then what? What are your motives for wanting to gain invincibility?"

Peyton answers, "When I was seven, my mother was unfairly prosecuted and my father was gunned down by soldiers when he was standing in the street, unarmed and unable to defend himself. I never got to meet my grandparents and I had to live in a foster home and the older I got, the more I came to understand that the government is not the kind of restriction that America needs. For far too long, those I ever loved, I lost because of the US government and they did not receive their punishment. I don't need to expose the government because I already know the villain that they are. I'm going to even the score. I will build my empire and I will destroy the government and free America from tyranny and restriction that has been inflicted upon them." He was shedding a tiny tear, indicating that he still does have a glimpse of humanity within him and even Cassie couldn't bring herself to not feel sorry for him. Peyton wasn't a villain, he was a victim of other people's plots. But then again, he was the one holding a gun at her.

"Please," Cassie begged. "I'm sorry, but please don't kill us."

"You guys will be dead anyway." Peyton wiped the tear away. "I want you guys to come with me, so you will be the first to witness my glory." He looks up at the sky and laughs. "It will be biblical!"

Cassie waited for one of the gunmen to walk up to her. When he was in range, she punches him in the face, disarms him, and use him as a human shield. "Back off or I'll kill him," she threatened. In reality, she was never going to kill him unless she had to. Right now, he was a prisoner.

The other three gunmen put down their guns and let the two walk over to the jeep. Derek climbed in and started the car.

"Peyton, give me all three stone tablets," Cassie demanded. In a very shocking event, Peyton did nothing but shrug and smile. He aims his gun and fires at the gunman Cassie was holding. He collapses to the ground dead and Cassie jumps onto the jeep. Derek speeds off with Cassie on the hood of the jeep.

"Road rage!" she shouts out in terror as she hangs on to the grille tight. Derek drove as fast as he could while Cassie tried to maintain a tight grip. It was hard because it was still raining and her grip was slipping and her right index finger was starting to hurt again. She uses what strength she did have to climb inside the jeep. She shimmies her way to the back while Derek kept driving as fast as he could.

Derek hit a bump and Cassie almost went falling out the jeep that was going sixty miles per hour. She grabbed her seatbelt in time and pulled herself back in.

"What a relief," she sighs deeply as her chest pounds against her heart. Once Derek had driven them to safety at a nearby pier, he put the jeep in park and they climbed out.

"You all right, Cass?" Derek asked, leaning against the car. He checked her to make sure there were no injuries on her.

"Yeah," Cassie chuckled. I'll live." She leans next to Derek subconsciously.

"What the hell was that?" Derek asked abruptly. "I have never seen a villain execute his henchman. So, what are we going to do now? Peyton and Andrew have all three stones and now know where to go. They could become invincible."

"Well, looks like we are going to have to do this the old fashion way. And that is where we stop Peyton and Andrew before they get to the moai statues. Like our parents did back in the old days, right?" She affectionately punches Derek softly in the shoulder.

"Exactly like that, but it was us instead of them." Derek was slightly excited because he was finally going to be a legend. Cassie was far more excited because this was her very first adventure and she wanted to get everything right so she could be a legend to remember. Derek jumps into the car. "Anybody getting in, or am I going to have to stop Peyton and Andrew myself?"

Cassie gets into the passenger seat. "Once we get to the moai statues before the two psychos, then what do we do?" Derek asked. She pulls out her pocket-sized journal and looks over the drawings she made ever since she arrived on Easter Island. A complete list of every student on the trip along with Peyton, Andrew, and William. She crossed William's name off because he was dead and she looked over the translations of the tablets that she wrote. She shuts the journal and turns to Derek to answer his question.

"Simple, we destroy the tablets before they can combine them."

"Well then, in that case, this should be easy then. I mean, that's just a tablet, is it?"

Cassie broke out laughing. "Derek Williamson Lowell, you are hilarious!"

The two drove up to the moai statues after Cassie's laughter broke down. They beat Peyton and Andrew to it, which was unbelievable. The statues that they saw were still standing, but the odd thing was Prof. Harvey and the students were all sitting crisscrossed on the ground with their heads down and hands behind their backs and the three gunmen were holding them at gunpoint.

In the center of all the people sitting crisscrossed, there stood Peyton and Andrew, chanting in a fanatical religious-like way.

"Makemake, hear us, Makemake, answer us, Makemake, listen to us," Peyton and Andrew chanted with to the statues with their backs turned to Cassie and Derek. "We have come to free you and to gaze upon this underworld you call Hawaiki, named after you. We brought you the three stone tablets and we plan to free you. As we free you, make us invincible. Make us gods, make us humanity's worst nightmare."

Just barely in front of the moai statues was a huge bonfire that flames seemed to reach dozens of feet in the air while the smoke reached mostly hundreds of feet into the air. It was like the fire was being called by some kind of god.

"Make our enemies fear us. Make our enemies want to serve us. Make our enemies want to die a merciful death."

It was a very disturbing sight to the two young adventurers. They just silently watched behind a log they ducked down behind. They had to think of a way to defeat them before they summon Makemake.

Peyton held two of the tablets while Andrew held the other one, indicating that they were about to combine them. Cassie couldn't let it happen. She picks up a rock and throws it at Peyton's head. It bounced off his head, causing him to grunt in discomfort and distracted him to the point he was frozen as if he was in an iceberg.

He slowly turns his head to a gunman and snaps to him, "Check it out." The gunman does as he asks and checks out the direction the rock was thrown. This was their only chance to interrupt their ritual. Derek jumped up from behind the log, took the gun and knicked the gunman unconscious with it. He aims at the other gunman and holds them at gunpoint before they could even raise their guns at them but they kept their pistols aimed at the students until Derek yelled at them to toss them away.

Cassie jumped out and joined Derek beside him "Peyton, Andrew, don't do this." She begged with her hands in front of her. "Think about this decision very carefully." The students were speechless as they watched the ordeal between Cassie, Derek, Peyton, and Andrew.

"Or what, you will kill us?" Andrew taunted. "Once we combine these tablets, we will be invincible."

"No, Peyton, think if this is what your family would've wanted."

Peyton snapped at Cassie, "My family was stolen from me and why should it be fair to others who had lost everything but I lost everything and suffered the worst fate? The US is getting what they deserve." They were about to combine them, and Cassie knew that they had to do something immediately. Derek fires off the trigger reluctantly, but the gun jams on him. He throws it at one of the gunmen before quickly punching the second one out cold. Andrew drops the tablet and fights back and the outcome of the short fistfight ended with Derek kicking Andrew in the chest after getting a three-second headstart. The kick was so powerful, Andrew went falling backward, and right into the bonfire, where his skin burned to a roast until burned to death.

Peyton pulled out a pistol from his belt and aimed it at Derek, who was still on the ground and looking over at his very first kill in history. Peyton was distracted from Cassie, who charged and tackled Peyton to the ground. The tablets and pistol sliding out of his reach.

Peyton kicks Cassie off of him and charges at her, almost tackling her into bonfire but missed by an inch. Derek snapped out of his trauma and hit Peyton in the back of the head with a rock and he began feeling dizzy.

"I was destined for this," Peyton manages to slur while staggering back towards the bonfire. He feels the heat already burning his leggings and he uses all of his strength in his will to stop. He moves forward and charges at the two adventurers. He was much more furious this time and not even the help of Derek could stop him from pouncing Cassie.

Peyton begins punching Cassie excessively until she started bleeding. When Derek put a hand on his shoulder, he punched him in the groin and shoved him away. "I'm okay with losing both Andrew and William, I'm okay with my hired guns being put in their place, but I am not okay with you foiling my plans." He punches her one more time before he lunges for the tablets. Despite Cassie pulling him by his legs, he manages to combine them.

At the drop of a hat, Cassie, Derek, and Peyton were traveling through some kind of portal with purple flashes across their vision. Although, what Cassie was seeing was a vision of her on some snowy mountain in a country she had never been to before. Before she could get a better picture of this vision, she was snapped back into reality. She fell forward and landed on a rock on her back. When they stopped falling, they were in some kind of rocky environment with no sun visible in sight and no rain dropping from the sky.

"Where the hell are we?" Derek asked while struggling to get up. He hears the bone in his knee pop and he groans in pain before popping it again to wear off the pain.

"There is only one place that I can think of," Cassie answered. "Hawaiki itself. We are officially underground." She looked around. The students weren't there, but for some reason, Derek and Peyton were. Peyton landed on a column and coughed up some blood and tried getting up but Cassie was quicker and went on to go kick him in the gut.

"So, how we get out?" Derek was more concerned about escaping then knocking out Peyton.

"Maybe we climb it," Peyton suggested sarcastically, which seemed uncharacteristic of him but he had a big smile on his face, which could only mean that he was happy to be a lost city that has never been found before. Cassie and Derek were just as equally thrilled.

In the center of all three of their eyes, there stood a rocky figure in the shape of a human laying against the wall upon a throne. The three approached them with caution and when his face wasn't obscured by darkness, they cringed at the sight of his face.

Makemake was a rocky figure and looked to be about eight feet tall. Cassie was very reluctant to talk to him because he is the very first being that Cassie encountered that wasn't a regular human, but something supernatural. "Hello there," she hesitated. She guessed his name correctly, "Makemake, I am Cassie Drake."

"I know who you are," Makemake said in a deep and booming voice. "I know what it is you desire. Two of you want to free and one wants to free me. Isn't that right, Peyton Piers?"

Peyton nodded quickly with a sadistic laugh. "I do, I want to free you."

Makemake sighed loudly and leaned forward towards Peyton specifically. His voice booms again as he says, "Why would I want to be free? I am free to do whatever I want in this world. I have total freedom. I am not going back to the outer world."

Peyton gave a disappointed look right after he gasped. His worst fear came to life when he realized that all of this had been for nothing and this wasn't his destiny. "I need to have your power."

"Why to be invincible, life is precious. Why live forever?" Makemake asked.

"I want to destroy the American system for my dad. I want to make him proud. You have not seen how the world has treated people like me and it's time I show the government that life _is_ precious."

"If you have to do something like destroying a world to make a father figure proud, then he is not worthy of being your father. A real father would want you to do the right thing.

Cassie looked at Peyton and saw a face of grief. _Was he having a change of heart?_ Any sign of him having a change of heart was completely and permanently shattered when he asked the next question to Makemake.

"Then I guess I made a mistake and I have every intention of killing that mistake as soon as I get to the surface." He glares at Cassie and Derek, growling at them with an accusatory look.

Makemake growled back at him. "I can easily send the three of you back to the place where you came from if that is what you want. Nobody is destined to be invincible; It's a living hell to be invincible. I can't die, and I can't see my family on the other side. And for invincibility to work, you are required to stay in Hawaiki, as leaving it will result in becoming mortal again. As much as I want to cross that threshold, I am bound no to."

Peyton growled in anger. He clenched his fits, grinding his teeth about ready to kill Cassie and Derek. "All this trouble for nothing?!"

"I'm afraid so," Makemake answered with no hint of sorrow in his voice. "So, all three of you have to make a decision. Do you want to stay here or go back to the surface? If you chose to stay, then you will stay here permanently, but if you leave, you will be forbidden from entering Hawaiki again."

Cassie did not hesitate to answer. "I vote to go back to the surface."

Derek nodded. "Ditto."

The two looked at Peyton. They were going to see what he was going to answer. Peyton knew that if he stayed here, then he would be invincible, but could never fulfill his dream. If he goes to the surface, he can release his anger on the duo of treasure hunters. He made his decision. "I chose to go to the surface."

Makemake leaned back against the wall. "Okay, now it is time to go back."

The two were thrown through the portal and they landed back into the real world. They landed near the moai statues. The students were still tied up and it was still raining, the bonfire was still burning and Andrew's body was still roasting. Peyton had recovered more quickly than the others and attacked.

The students watched Peyton fight their two friends and each one desperately worked on freeing the other.

Peyton punched as hard as he could. He hit Derek in the temple and knocked him to the ground. He throws a kick to Cassie's jaw and knocks her to the ground as well. He focuses all his energy on Cassie and Derek, picking up a rock, swinging it at Cassie's face, who jerks her head back in time. She uppercuts him and pushes him toward the bonfire. When she lunged, he moved out the way and she almost went flying into the flames. She stopped herself and was met with a shoe to the jaw when her head turned around. She fell right next to the bonfire. Derek charges from behind and hits Peyton hard in the nape with his fist.

Peyton elbows Derek in the nose and kicks him in the groin. He then returns his attention to Cassie. "This time Cassie, I will make sure you die." He has completely lost his humanity and sanity at this point and there was no redemption for him now.

When Peyton charges, Cassie flips him over her body using his momentum. He almost landed in the bonfire. He gets up quickly and hits Cassie in the head with the rock. He proceeds to climb on top of her and began punching her with the rock. But not in the head, but the chest and stomach.

She begins coughing up blood from the brutal blows but she tried her hardest to ignore the pain. She was about to blackout from the weight on her chest, however. Peyton punched her with his fist before he raises his hand with the rock in it. He is about to hit her in the face with the rock until Derek came lunging and shoved Peyton off of her. He turns the tables on Peyton and begins punching him profusely. Peyton kicks Derek back but both treasure hunters come punching at him. They both throw matching strikes. If Cassie threw a punch at his jaw, Derek would throw a punch to his stomach. If Cassie kicked him in the groin, then Derek would kick the man in the neck.

Peyton had had enough and he still stood to his full height. He practically had his pain receptors disabled. He hits Derek with a brutal punch and shoves Cassie away. He kicks Derek in the stomach and causes him to fold over. He turns his attention to Cassie, whom he managed to subdue and throw her to the ground.

When he was towering above her, he raises his foot and places it on Cassie's neck and begins to choke her to death. Cassie's eyes turned red and they felt like they were going to pop out of her skull. Blindly searching around her for anything she could use as a weapon, she did find one thing hidden in the grass and unnoticed by Peyton, the pistol he dropped. Cassie grips the handle and fires in Peyton's direction. Peyton was hit in the chest and stumbled backward, taking his foot off of Cassie's throat, allowing her to breathe again.

The three gunmen had regained consciousness and they stood back up, only for the group of students to attack them from all directions led by Prof. Harvey.

Standing up, Cassie aims the gun at Peyton and fires. He was hit in the kneecap, but was still alive and refused to scream in pain. Cassie pulled the trigger one more time and found no more bullets in the gun. She charges at Peyton and begins punching him in the face. Then, almost as if God himself was there, a bolt of lightning struck a moai statue beside them. The head of the moai statue began falling backward, and right onto Cassie and Peyton.

"See you in hell, big head!" Cassie shouts at Peyton in triumph. She knees him in the groin and attempts to run, but he grabs her legs and trips her. The moai statue was about to crush Peyton and her feet. She gives one final kick to Peyton's face and he released his grip. She kicks him back into the falling statue's path and moves her feet out of the way in time just as the moai statue came down.

Cassie brought her knees up to her chest as she crawled to another moai statue. With her knees to her chest, she grabs them and hugs tightly like a little girl does a teddy bear, more emotional trauma rapidly flashing through her mind. _I just killed Peyton_._ She kicked him backward and he was crushed to death by the moai statue._

Her hand was shaking involuntarily.

* * *

One Week Later

It has been one week since the deadly confrontation of Peyton. Everybody was traumatized from witnessing the deaths of both Andrew being burnt to death and Peyton being crushed to death.

Now that all three tablets were in Cassie's possession, she placed them in a briefcase and walked off with Derek, Harvey, and the students.

Derek stops her as they walked over a bridge down at the pier. "Hey, Cassie, how are you feeling?"

Cassie gazes at him and gives a half-shrug. "Better. It's been a week since you killed Andrew and I killed Peyton, but I will survive."

"Y'know Cassie, we made a very revolutionary discovery. This is the first time you and I found an actual lost city, albeit a mythical being as well. We had our very first dose of the supernatural and man, those killer moves we were both throwing at Peyton, what a Cassie and Derek assault. How does it feel?"

Cassie was about to say hurt, traumatized, scared, frightened, but she was an optimist who went with, "It feels amazing." Two seconds later, she caved to the adrenaline rush and hugs Derek tightly.

Derek wraps his hands around her in response, one hand moving through her hair and smiles. His heart was warming up in delight. He was hugging the girl that he was in love. He had flashbacks of their senior prom. That beautiful red dress that Cassie wore, the slow dance they shared, it was not a moment he took for granted. Of course, he had nothing more than a small crush on her and his feelings for her didn't develop until after they graduated high school.

In that instant, Cassie felt a certain feeling tingly inside her. Her heart was racing not because of her traumatic experience, but because of Derek. Her heartfelt warm and tender. She got this feeling she never felt around Derek, she had been his best friend since fourth grade, but she felt a never felt before feeling. She smiled when the realization came to her. She was in love with Derek. _I remember that slow dance we had at prom._

Cassie felt his skin warm and so did he. They were both in each other's arms where they could kiss. In that instant, Cassie wanted nothing more in life than to be with Derek. When they looked at each other, they leaned in, their lips very close to each other. But, they were interrupted. Their first kiss was interrupted.

It was Harvey, "Hey there, Ms. Drake, Mr. Lowell." He pulls out something from his back pocket. He hands two papers to Cassie and Derek. They open it. Their eyes widening.

"Are you for real?" Cassie asked her professor in shock and disbelief.

"Yes. After everything you have done, I called the dean and she wants you and Derek to graduate with your Ph.D. in seven years. So that means when you will be called up to get your Master's degree, you will also receive your Ph.D., both of you," Harvey explained. "This trip just shaved two years off your college experience."

"Thank you so much, Prof. Harvey," Cassie thanked, hugging him. Derek did the same when she was done with his hug. When he finished his hugs, he returned to the boat with the students.

The two amateur archaeologists decided to stay back, however.

Cassie remembered how Derek saved her life from Peyton and never got to thank him."Derek, I never got to thank you for saving my life."

Derek patted her back support. "Anytime. You don't owe me anything so don't worry about paying me back."

Cassie remembered a quote she heard from her father and what a tale this would be to tell. She quoted after her father, "I'm good for it."

The End of Chapter 1


	2. The Immortal Gods

**Warning: In this story, there is a rape **_**attempt**_** but is stopped in time. So, this was a reminder for possible trigger warnings.**

**Derek Lowell: a College student who embarks on a solo adventure from Shanghai to the Gobi desert.**

**Angie Richardson: The girlfriend of Derek who is in a long-distance relationship with him.**

**Niko Lowell: Derek's cousin two years younger.**

**Batu Khan: The leader of the largest criminal empire in Mongolia who desires to expand his empire.**

* * *

**Extended summary**

**While Cassie Drake may get most of the attention, Derek Lowell has his fair share of adventures and one that involved no one else but him happened in Mongolia just two weeks after his eighteenth birthday. In this adventure, it's Derek vs an entire criminal empire for the Peaches of Immortality.**

* * *

_The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering._

_Bruce Lee_

January 2032

Maui, Hawaii

Derek Lowell was feeling an extremely queasy feeling in his abdomen. He felt sick. He knew he should just pull the car over, but he couldn't because he was on the highway.

"Damn," he cursed to himself. As soon as he was off the highway, he pulled up at a gas station with the intent of buying medicine. Parking near the front, he gets out of the car so he can go inside and while inside, he jokes tom himself, _Let's hope, I'm not pregnant. Mpreg sounds weird to me._

Inside the QT, it was kinda crowded but nothing he couldn't get around. It was only Sunday and a lot of people were given time off due to Martin Luther King Jr. day just passing a few days ago.

He goes up to the counter to buy some stomach medicine and some other cold medicine. "How much?" The cashier typed on the register instead of scanning the prices. He pays the cashier with a ten-dollar bill and tells him to keep the change. After putting the medicine in the grocery bag, he leaves the store.

He couldn't keep his friend, Cassie, waiting. Which is why he took his stomach medicine now and waited for thirty minutes in his car for it to take effect and he stalled by drinking from a strawberry smoothie. After that, he drove off to his destination, the Natural Museum of History.

Then, he felt an even more stunning pain in himself and the thing was it wasn't his stomach where the pain originated. It was farther down then he thought it was.

"Man, what is happening to me?" Derek asked himself. "My groin!" He never felt such extraordinary pain before.

Finally arriving at the Natural Museum of History, Derek parked his car near the entrance and walked into the building. He told Cassie he had something to show her, and it was related to Mongolia.

"Cassie!" Derek called upon seeing her near some kind of Mammoth that had been stuffed and put on display. Cassie walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder with a grin. She quickly picked up on him hunching over. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I am just fine," he reassured in a voice of agony. He was not fine; he was in so much pain right now.

"You're going all blue, man. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes." Derek sat against the wall, his backsliding down with squeaks. "I just have a...a...a…" He loses consciousness and passes out.

"D-Man, are you alright? Wake up!" She shakes him in hopes to wake him up. He was in physical pain over something, she just had to find out what it was. She takes out her phone and calls for an ambulance.

"Hello, my name is Cassie Drake and my friend Derek Lowell has just passed out from some kind of physical pain and he won't wake up." She waits for a response. After hearing it, she tells the ambulance where she was, at the Natural Museum of History.

Five minutes later, the ambulance arrived and they loaded Derek onto a stretcher and took him to a hospital.

"Derek, I hope you're alright," she whispered to herself.

Derek had awoken hours later in a groggy state but the pain was gone. He felt a lot better. He found himself wearing a hospital gown on a bed and he was hooked up to an IV bag with clear fluids. A tall and skinny doctor enters the room with a clipboard.

"Mr. Lowell, how are you feeling today?" the doctor asked.

Derek rubbed his eyes as he asked, "What happened, why did I pass out?"

The doctor showed him an X-ray scan of his body. "You have acute orchitis, which is massively inflamed testicles."

Derek's face blushed red instantly, never before feeling this embarrassed before. "I'm so embarrassed, I can't believe I passed out in front of Cassie."

"Don't worry, Mr. Lowell, you have been taken care of. We should get you out of the hospital in less than a week. Orchitis is easily treatable."

"Before you leave, at least tell me that Cassie doesn't know."

Then the door opened and the devil walked right in. Derek's face blushed even more. "Oh god."

"How's your family jewels feeling?" Cassie joked with hopes of making Derek feel better but it backfired instantly.

_Oh, God! She knows. _He takes the pillow from behind his head and sinks his face in.

"Mr. Lowell, you are eighteen years old right?" the doctor asked again.

"Yes," Derek muffled through the pillow.

"Do you wish to have medication?"

Derek looked up from the pillow, narrowing his eyes at the doctor. "Of course I do; I am in pain just thinking about my bean bags!"

The doctor turns to the door and walks out to get Derek's medication.

"What happened, D-Man?" Cassie asked once it was just the two of them in the room.

"I can't believe I passed out in front of not only you but everybody at the Natural Museum of History."

Cassie recognized her friend's vulnerability and decided not to take things any further. "Don't be humiliated, I won't make fun of you. We'll make it through this D-Man. We always do. We made it through our Easter Island adventure."

"It was three months ago but yeah, we sure did." Derek gave a slight smile. "Y'know, now that I am feeling alright, you want to see what I was going to show you?"

She nodded, "Of course." She then handed him his phone.

"I wanted to show you this in person rather through text." Derek took back his phone and clicked his camera app. He shows her a few pictures of ancient Mongol writing on an ancient piece of paper that turned brown over the years. "Bought it at an auction. Mongols, sixteenth century."

"What is it about these ancient Mongolian writing?" Cassie asked as she took her seat in a chair.

"This ancient Mongolian writing is not just words, but it is alleged to be a map."

"A map of what?" Derek smiles. "You are thinking of something, I can tell Derek," Cassie continued with an equal smile of her own.

"Have you ever heard of the Immortal Gods from Chinese mythology?"

Cassie listed the Immortal Gods from Chinese mythology: "Yeah, Shiva, Ganesh, and Parshuram."

Derek shook his head. "Wrong gods. The Eight Immortals. "The Immortal Gods, the ones who never died. This map is alleged to be one of the maps that the Eight Immortals used to obtain this fruit that is supposed to grant everlasting life to whoever consumes from it. I'm pretty sure you've heard of the Peaches of Immortality."

* * *

Five Days Later

Derek was sitting on a bench at the Natural Museum of History and Cassie was sitting beside him, they were gazing at the scroll with the Mongolian writing in his hands.

"So, this little thing, this scroll that was discovered in the Gobi Desert of Outer Mongolia in 1532, is a map to the Peaches of Immortality?" Cassie asked for clarification.

"Yep, it sure is," Derek said, nodding, "I tried to read it, but it's indecipherable."

Derek gives a long sigh before Cassie said, "I know that sigh, Derek. It's a sigh of annoyance." She lightly punches him in the shoulder.

"Yeah, I wanted to know where the Peaches of Immortality were," Derek agrees, "By the way, the Peaches of Immortality are Chinese, not Mongolian," he points out the error.

She chuckles a bit at this before reminding him, "I know, but the stories can be inaccurate at times. Like Daedalus building one labyrinth when in fact he built three and his nephew, Talos, built the fourth one in China." She remembers her father's Fourth Labyrinth adventure.

"Yeah, hopefully, the Protectors of the Hidden Word aren't protecting the Peaches of Immortality."

She laughs lightly at his comment. "I doubt it, but we are steering off-topic."

"Yeah, right." He focuses and puts the scroll down on the bench.

"Quick question, D-Man, why are you so interested in the Peaches of Immortality?"

He hesitated to answer. "I think we could save a lot of people. Once we learn to harness the Peaches of Immortality powers, we could save thousands of people. We could save their lives." He looks back at the scroll. "I'm trying to figure out how we are going to find the Peaches though. Even to someone like yourself, who can speak twelve languages, the scroll is indecipherable."

"Thanks for the update," she deadpans. "I can still try to read it. All I need is like thirty minutes. One hour tops."

Derek looks around the museum to see if there was anyone around and there was nobody. "We'll decipher it at home."

"You sketch it, you have a photographic memory and drawing skills. You could sketch this baby to a T. You are a painter after all."

"All right. Get me a pen and paper."

Cassie reaches into her back pocket and pulled out her journal and a pencil. "Take as long as you need, D-Man."

Derek takes the journal and pencil. "All I need is five minutes, that's all it'll take."

Cassie chuckled a bit. "Five minutes is all it will take." She smiled mischievously.

"You are so immature." He considers himself. "Although I am too. SO I guess I should be used to it." Derek opens to a blank sheet to sketch the plaque. "You can move around freely if you want. I work better without an audience."

Cassie paces around the museum for the next five minutes, looking at other exhibits that might be cool. In the corner of her eye, she wore she saw something. It looked like some kind of man, although she has no idea who. _Not a civilian or a guard._

_But trouble. _

Cassie suddenly and spontaneously lunged forward towards the man. The only thing that Cassie knows is that if she had a sixth sense for something, it was detecting danger and ever since she walked into this museum, that creepy guy had been stalking her and Derek.

He does not see her coming and she tackles him to the ground. However, he managed to come out on top of her and he punches her hard in the nose and caused her to bleed.

He punches her twice in the jaw, causing her to cough up blood. She desperately reaches out for anything to use as a weapon and found nothing. He punches her one last time, in the left eye. She hit her head against the ground and was given a concussion.

The man cracks his knuckles and prepares to punch her once more. She looked up at the man. His face now hidden by some balaclava, but she noted that he had an oval-shaped head and brown eyes with a hawk nose. His skin also appeared to be caucasian, although it was hard to tell cause the only skin she could see was the one the holes didn't cover.

She prepares herself to get punched again, bracing herself for the pain, but the punch never came.

Derek tackled the man off of Cassie and he began punching the man in the head. He puts the man in a chokehold. Then, Derek felt something hard against the back of his head. There were two assailants. The second man had hit Derek in the head with a glass vase (that somehow did not break) and gave him a concussion.

Cassie sits up and observes the two men. Besides the scarf, the second man looked exactly like the man with the hawk nose. The scarf he wore covered his mouth and nose and neck, so it was harder to identify him. But he did have jet black hair and that was his only noticeable trait.

Hawk Nose stood straight up and kicked Derek in the stomach. Jet Black did not harm, although when he saw Cassie, he did reach down to touch her shoulder, Hawk Nose pulled his hand away.

It looked like Hawk Nose was trying to stop Jet Black from touching Cassie, but it turns out that he wanted her all to himself. Hawk Nose leans forward and reaches for her chest. Unnoticed to either villain, Derek was filling up with anger from the incident happening in front of him. It was made pretty clear that both Hawk Nose and Jet Black were going to rape Cassie.

Jumping to his feet, Derek snatches the vase from Jet Black's hand and smashed it into Hawk Nose's head, causing the vase to shatter this time. He gasps in pain and Hawk Nose collapses. Jet Black turned to Derek and punched him hard in the face.

Hawk Nose groaned in pain and turned to see Jet Black beat up Derek. Hawk Nose turns back to Cassie after getting back on his feet. He grabs her by the shoulder and pushes her against the wall. She wanted to run, but with the concussion, she was suffering from made it impossible to.

Hawk Nose said something in a foreign language. "Songokh, amidrakh esvel ükhekh." Cassie couldn't even understand. She feels something grope at her waist. She looks down to see that Hawk Nose was groping at her belt buckle. He smiles through his balaclava, punching her in the stomach, causing her to double over. Now that she was on the ground, he yanked her jeans off. She was now in her panties and kicking to try and keep away Hawk Nose. Terror overtook her.

Punching Derek hard in the nose, when he saw that Cassie was about to be raped, his rage overtook him again. He uses all his strength to break Jet Black's wrist before headbutting him in the nose and shove him in Hawk Nose. They collide with each other and collapse on the floor.

Suddenly, Derek heard something behind him. He turns over his right shoulder and sees another masked thug shoving the scroll into a bag. Derek wanted to pursue him, but he had to make sure that Cassie was alright.

Hawk Nose and Jet Black were already running off into the third masked man's direction and as it turns out, this entire time, Hawk Nose and Jet Black were merely a diversion. Whoever these guys were, they wanted the Peaches of Immortality desperately because they just stole Derek's scroll.

Derek had pursued them but in the ensuing chase, Hawk Nose, Jet Black and the Third One had escaped from Derek. He wanted to continue to chase them but he lost sight of them as soon as they ran out the door.

"Goddamnit!" he cursed under his breath. When he went back inside to check on Cassie, he found several security guards putting Cassie in handcuffs, but none of them noticed Derek. He wanted to save her, but if he did, then he would be arrested and he could never stop Hawk Nose, Jet Black, or the Third One.

He decided to slip away, how he would save Cassie, he would figure out later, but he was determined to save her.

A day later, Derek had visited Cassie in the Juvenile Detention Center. Since she was still seventeen turnings eighteen in June, she was put in juvie. He came to visit her in her cell. If she had a prisoner sharing a cell, he could not see her.

"How are you doing in there Cassie?" Derek asked, putting his hands on the bars.

"Pretty good, I haven't showered yet, but I am still managing," she answered nonchalantly. "Why do all Drakes have to go to jail?"

"Oh yeah, and about that whole incident yesterday, with...Hawk Nose...almost raping you…"

"Don't say it, Derek," she cut him off.

"I won't." He sighs deeply. "Those three thugs got away, but I may have a theory where."

Cassie narrowed her eyes at Derek. "Where, tell me D-Man."

"That guy, Hawk Nose, when he was about to touch you, he said 'Songokh, amidrakh esvel ükhekh,' which translates as _'Choose, live or die'_ in Mongolian." Derek licked his lips. "These guys, or at least Hawk Nose, are Mongolian. The scarf that Jet Black wore on his face had Mongolian writing. It read, 'For Batu Khan' and in Mongolia, I heard that Batu Khan is the leader of the largest criminal empire in Mongolia. And if you looked carefully, like I did because I am extremely observant, Hawk Nose had a belt buckle that said 'For Batu Khan' in Mongolian as well."

"So, you're saying that this entire time, crime boss Batu Khan is the one behind the robbery and the one who wants the Peaches of Immortality?"

Derek nodded slowly. "Yes, and now you are paying for the crime they committed."

Cassie gives another deep sigh. "Derek, you have to do something. I can't get out on bail until Saturday, which is in six days."

"So, what now?"

"You still have the sketched piece of the map, do you?" Derek nods. "Okay, how about this for a suggestion, you go look for the Peaches of Immortality without me and prove my innocence so you won't have to post bail."

What Cassie said shocked him. He never went on an adventure without her and he could not believe what he was hearing. "It would be the first adventure I would go on without you."

"Derek, you're a big boy and you don't have any money to bail me out. Don't let me stop you from having fun. Maybe, I'll go on an adventure without you to even the score."

He looks down at his shoes. He was determined to do something. He couldn't afford to wait. So his only option would be to go after the Peaches of Immortality without her and get the Peaches before the crime boss does.

"I promise to defeat Batu Khan and his entire criminal organization. I will get the Peaches and I will keep them as far away as possible from Batu Khan. And I promise to come back."

"You promise?"

"I promise." Derek nods.

* * *

On the plane ride from Hawaii to China, Derek spent the time deciphering the sketch. He sketched it so perfect in his journal, that is should be a replica.

Derek was examining the sides of the scroll very carefully and checked for the symbols. He wrote down the names of the Eight Immortals. "He Xiangyu, Cao Guojiu, Li Tieguai, Lan Caihe, Lu Dongbin, Han Xiangzi, Zhang Guolao, and Zhongli Quan." He writes the names down.

If he could switch the words around, the surname the first Immortal, it would spell A Gun XI. _What does 'A Gun XI' even mean?_

Derek began flipping through several pages to find out what 'A Gun Xi' meant. He did find out that the XI is not a Roman numeral, but an ancient Mongol text. It wasn't 'A Gun XI,' it was Xia and Gun was shortened for Gunju; so far, all he got was Gunju Xia, and that wasn't even the name of one of Genghis Khan's wife. But maybe it meant something.

"Maybe Gunju Xia or Xia Gunju is the name of a historical place." He began typing on his computer. He looks up for any places in Mongolia for Gunju Xia or something that has the name, Gunju Xia.

"Okay, Xia is referring to the Xia in Chinese history while Gunju _is_ referring to the name of one of Genghis Khan's wives." He begins putting all the pieces together. "Okay, the Eight Immortals from Chinese mythology, according to this scroll, kept the Peaches of Immortality in Mongolia, and they left the clues in this scroll. Gunju and Xia. Xia referring to Xia Dynasty while Gunju referring to a wife of Genghis Khan."

He breathes deeply as he continues, "Xia is Chinese, but could also be referring to the Western Xia conquest, and Gunju is Mongolia. If I didn't know any better, the Peaches of Immortality _are_ in Mongolia."

He writes more down notes. "Okay then, but where in Mongolia?" He smacks himself upside the head. "Alright, Western Xia, wife of Genghis Khan, and in Mongolia." He begins going deep into his thoughts. "Western Xia, Gunju Khatun, and Mongolia," he repeats several times, "Western Xia, Gunju Khatun, Mongolia."

He suddenly deduced: "The Gobi Desert. That's where the Peaches of Immortality are, in the Gobi Desert. All this time, it was in the Gobi Desert." Derek smiled; he finally figured out the piece to the puzzle.

"Let's hope that dickhead, Batu Khan, doesn't find out in time. Speaking of which." Derek takes out his phone and calls for Cassie down at the prison. She was given five to seven minutes to talk on her one phone call.

"Cassie, you are not going to believe this, I found out where the Peaches of Immortality are."

"Where?" Cassie asked.

"They are definitely in Mongolia, but they are in the Gobi Desert. I figured it all out and I have a theory: The Eight Immortals who used the Peaches of Immortality must have hidden the Peaches of Immortality in a place that was called the Gunju Xia, which is an uncharted trench in the Gobi Desert. It's uncharted, but people have explored it. It is big and at least a twelve-mile long trench, but it seems most likely."

"Good job, Derek, I knew you could crack the code. What are you going to do when you get to Mongolia?"

"I don't know, but I am going to need a guide into the Gobi Desert, so that is why I'm going to call these two friends I know that are staying in China for an internship at different jobs each. One is named Niko Lowell, my cousin, and the other is named Angie Richardson."

* * *

Three Hours Later

Shanghai, China

Derek had landed in Shanghai, China just thirty minutes ago and he was searching for his cousin and friend, Niko and Angie. He decided to wait on the bench for them after texting them that he had arrived at the international airport in Shanghai. He knew what Niko and Angie looked like. Niko was the name of his cousin so he couldn't bear not remembering his cousin. Angie was about the same age as him and he shouldn't forget what she looks like, because they started dating when they met at the University of Paris barely one year ago.

Derek scooted over when he saw two people wanting to sit on the bench that he was sitting on. He looks to see who these people were. It was Niko and Angie.

"Niko, Angie, it's me Derek Lowell," he introduced himself to his cousin and girlfriend.

"Hey there, Derek," Niko cheered before he hugged his cousin tightly; this was the first time they have seen each other since Derek's graduation from high school.

Angie hugged her boyfriend next but her hug had romantic love hidden in it. "Been a while, Derek," she said, releasing herself from the hug. She then bestowed upon his lips a kiss, which he returned hungrily but was able to contain himself.

"So, when you called us and told us that you were coming to China, we were wondering why," Niko mentions.

"You two people are the only people I can trust. We might want to discuss this in private." Derek got off the bench and escorted the two to a nearby water fountain near the bathrooms.

"Alrighty then, what is it you want to privately discuss us with?" Angie asked sarcastically. That's what Derek loved about Angie aside from her strawberry blonde hair.

He quickly made sure no one was looking or listening in their direction before he spoke. "Do you guys know the name of a crime boss named Batu Khan?"

Niko and Angie's eyes widened. "Batu Khan, the leader of the largest criminal empire in Mongolia?" Angie asked with a whisper.

"Yes, that Batu Khan," Derek clarified. "Listen, just a few days ago, Batu Khan had three of his thugs break into the Natural Museum of History in Hawaii and steal a scroll that I bought at an auction," Derek clears the air, "A scroll that was discovered some centuries ago."

"How much is this scroll?" Niko asked. "If Batu Khan wants it, then it must be worth millions of dollars."

"Billions of dollars even but I paid only seventy dollars for it. The scroll carries something that is much more valuable than any kind of money in the world, a map." He pauses. "A map to the Peaches of Immortality."

"The Peaches of Immortality?" both Niko and Angie whispered in question.

Derek replied to the two, "The Peaches of Immortality from Chinese mythology. The Peaches of the Eight Immortals? Yes, it turns out, from what I deciphered on a sketch of the scroll, the Peaches of Immortality are in Mongolia and the Gobi Desert."

"So, you came here to China just to tell us about the Peaches of Immortality?" Angie asked, incredibly offended that Derek was not here just to see her. She wanted to end this long distant relationship with Derek for this sole purpose but she saw herself as a forgiving person and decided to give him a second chance.

"No, I need you guys to do something for me. I need a guide into the Gobi Desert. I would go to Mongolia but since Batu Khan has a very large criminal empire, anyone of his guides could be part of his 'little' gang."

"Okay, well we do know this one guy who has explored the Gobi Desert thousands of times and he is the most trusted guide we know. He can't be bought by any criminals and he can surely help you out in your quest," Angie helps.

"Thanks a lot, Angie." He had genuinely forgotten how beautiful Angie looked from the angle that he was standing at. He had to put relationships aside so he asked, "What's his name?"

"Chang," she answered without hesitation.

"Thank you so much, if you can call him, it would be much obliged. Next time I am in Shanghai, pizza is on me," Derek promises to Niko. "And I will make up my absence, Angie."

"You better, it's lonely here in Asia." Angie took out her phone. While the phone was busy, she quickly went in and kissed Derek on the lips again, savoring his taste. "Good luck on your quest, D."

"Thanks, Angie, I'm going to need luck," Derek smirk and put a hand through her silky strawberry blonde hair. "I am going to pay Mr. Khan a visit."

* * *

The Next Day

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

At a restaurant in the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, there sat a short and chubby fifty-year-old man with brown hair, brown eyes, and bushy eyebrows at a table, taking very few sips of wine, making sure to stay sober for when his men returned to him with his scroll that he lost at an auction. He could not believe that he, Batu Khan, the leader of the largest criminal empire in Mongolia, lost a scroll at an auction for seventy dollars.

Then came in three people into the restaurant. It was none other Hawk Nose, Jet Black (with a cast around his left hand), and the Third One.

The three approached Batu Khan and bowed. Hawk Nose pulled out the scroll from a satchel at his side. "Good afternoon, Lord Batu Khan," Hawk Nose said in Mongolian.

"Welcome back, how was your adventure in Hawaii?" Batu Khan asked.

Jet Black answered this time, "It was good. A little rusty and somewhat mischievous, especially with this one girl we fought." He held up his broken wrist. "Somewhat hazardous."

"But we have the scroll for you, our lord, nevertheless," the Third One said dryly. The Third One signaled for Hawk Nose to set the scroll down on the table for Batu Khan to see. He regards it for several seconds.

"What did you guys find out from this little scroll?" Batu Khan asked the three but the Third One specifically.

Hawk Nose and Jet Black shrugged as expect but the Third One spoke, "We have discovered from some research on the plane that the Peaches of Immortality are somewhere in our country. My two brothers here have speculated that the Peaches of Immortality may lie somewhere in the Gobi Desert. It makes perfect sense if one thinks about it."

Batu Khan nodded. "I am guessing that you are correct, but we need more research done on this scroll. If we want to resurrect Genghis Khan's empire under my name, then we need to figure out the exact location of the Peaches of Immortality."

"Yes my Lord, I will have the historians and translators work on the plaque as soon as possible," the Third One said.

"Good. Now that my second-in-command and two lieutenants are here, why don't the four of you have a seat?" Batu Khan said more like a command than a question. Jet Black and Hawk Nose nodded and sat down at the table. The Third One nodded, but after giving the scroll to another man. This man was one of Batu Khan's henchman. He took it to the back of the room with two others to study more of it.

"Now, let's drink some wine. As in as little as twelve hours, we will have a map to the Peaches of Immortality."

The Third One sat down and gazed at Batu Khan. "That is pretty optimistic my Lord."

"I'm a very optimistic man. Even in the most difficult situations."

Then, another man came into the room. Batu Khan, Hawk Nose, Jet Black and the Third One stared at the man with contempt. He was not Mongolian or Asian at all. He looked to be North American. This North American man approached the table that Batu Khan and his three followers were sitting at. He sat down at the empty table and smiled at Batu Khan.

"Are you lost you non-Asian?" Batu Khan asked, clearly offended with the man in his presence.

"No, I am not lost. I am here looking for a man. His name is I believe, Batu Khan."

Batu Khan stared at the man with a glare. "That would be me. Why?"

The man grins. "My name is Derek Lowell."

"Mr. Lowell, I believe I heard a name like that before," the crime boss said. He was trying to remember. "I think I heard a name like that on Easter Island one year ago."

"Yeah well, I was on Easter Island last year with a friend and I was aware I made the news."

"What is the reason you are here, Mr. Lowell?" Batu Khan asked, cupping his hands together and waiting for an answer.

"A few days ago, three of your boys snuck into a museum and stole something from the past. I came here to buy it back." He feels sweat running down his right leg calf, which is also where a tape recorder was 'taped'.

"How much are you willing to offer?"

"One million dollars." Derek lied with proficiency and he was proud of it (to a slight degree). He gazed up to the tall and thin one that Batu Khan referred to as Tzi. There was something odd about Tzi. He then looked at the only girl of the group called Sarnai. He didn't recognize her with her dark hair, but he felt like he knew her. Then there was the other one, he heard his name as Ganzorig.

All three glared at Derek with intensity. It was like they knew him, but he didn't know them. Then, he finally realized something. Tzi was Hawk Nose, Ganzorig was Jet Black and Sarnai was the Third One.

He finally figured out their identities but made sure to hide his reaction, another thing he was good at.

"One million dollars is rather a lot of money." Batu Khan was catching onto something. He probably knew that he had some kind of wire onto him, which is why Batu Khan kept a very close watch on what he spoke about. "I am willing to trade it for something."

"What would that be?" Derek asked.

"The Peaches of Immortality itself."

"The Peaches of Immortality are a myth Mr. Khan," Derek counters.

"If that is true, then why did you come from America to come to buy the scroll back from me?"

Derek hesitated to answer. This Batu Khan was much smarter than he anticipated. And he knows that he has a tape recorder on him.

"If you recall, I bought the scroll from the museum." Batu Khan then nodded to his thugs. They circled in on Derek.

Ganzorig puts his hands on Derek's shoulder while Tzi tied Derek's wrists together. Sarnai then used this opportunity to frisk Derek from head to toe. When she found a tape recorder taped to his calf, she checked inside to see if she could find the tape. And to her surprise, there was no tape inside.

"My Lord, he is clean," she told.

Derek smirked. The real wire was hidden in the sole of his sneaker. "Look, Batu Khan, I know you stole the scroll. It belongs in a museum."

Batu Khan shrugged. There was no point lying now. His guard was down. "Alright, I admit it, I stole the scroll, Ganzorig, Tzi, and Sanari, I sent to go steal it in Hawaii. Anything else?"

"Yes, you are crazy for going after the Peaches of Immortality, what do you intend to once you find the Peaches of Immortality with that scroll?" Derek asked, justice taking over.

"You are smart, try and figure it out," Batu Khan challenged.

Derek had only one theory: "You want to resurrect Genghis Khan's empire, under your name."

Batu Khan nodded. "That is correct."

Derek felt the rage boiling within him. "You son of a bitch, Genghis Khan was not a good man. He, like other people like Hitler and Tamerlane, is evil."

"I know," Batu Khan nodded again.

A few hours later, Batu Khan and his three thugs had loaded Derek into a truck and Ganzorig and Tzi did the honors of driving him to the Gobi Desert for Derek to be executed.

It was just one truck and it was only Tzi and Ganzorig. They had the perfect plan to execute him. In the Gobi Desert, there were a few wild animals like the lions who roam freely and feed on anything they can get their hands on. So they were going to feed Derek to one of the lions.

"Hey," Derek called out to his captors, "Tzi, Ganzorig, how have you guys been?"

"Pretty good actually, I am about to become immortal and I finally get to finish what I started at that museum," Tzi answered with sarcasm.

"You seem to have this, big brother, do whatever you want with our little American friend," Ganzorig cheered on before going back to the truck. He sat in the driver's seat and waited patiently for Derek's death.

"Tzi, what you were about to do to Cassie back at the museum, was the biggest and most unforgivable mistake you'll have ever made in your entire life!" Derek snapped at Tzi.

"Shut up, you American. All you Americans do is talk, talk, talk. Now let's go for a walk, walk, walk." Tzi pushed Derek forward.

Derek smiled. His plans were working out perfectly. He wanted to get caught so he and Chang could steal one of Batu Khan's trucks. They could have just stolen them at the restaurant, but Derek wanted to get proof that Bati Khan was the one behind the museum heist, not Cassie. He got his solid proof that she was innocent and Batu Khan was guilty.

Tzi struck Derek in the back of the head, giving him a concussion again. He did not collapse to the ground though. "Tell me, does that pain feel familiar?"

Derek worked on loosening the ropes around his wrists, but they were too tight.

"Tell me, have you ever taken kickboxing before? I'm a brown belt. I had a record of nine wins and zero losses. Impressive, no?" Tzi spoke with a sadistic smile painted across his face. He kicks Derek in the kidney and Derek gives a yell of pain. "Time for a roundhouse kick." Tzi roundhouse kicks Derek in his spine.

"Front kick." He kicks Derek in the back. "Spinning kick." Another kick to the back. "Time for a knee to the spine." He does a flying knee to Derek's back. Derek finally went down to the ground. "Have you ever played ice hockey before. I had one powerful swing." He bashes Derek on the head with his pistol. Derek refused to lose consciousness. "Time to score." He strikes Derek in the cheek with his gun. Derek went falling onto his back. But he finally loosened the rope around his wrist. All he had to do was wait for the right moment.

Secretly grabbing a handful of sand, he throws it into his attacker's face. The hot sand was burning his eyes. Tzi screamed in pain and clutched his eye sockets.

Derek used all his strength to jump up and tackle Tzi to the ground. He grabs the gun with the hand and points the barrel underneath Tzi's jaw. "Brains always defeat brawn!" He pulls the trigger. Blood and guts sprayed from the top of the villain's head. His eyes were wide open and his face frozen in terror. "This for Cassie,"

Ganzorig steps out the jeep to see what was going on and saw Derek on top of his brother and his brother wasn't alive. When he realized this, he aimed his gun at Derek. "You killed my brother!" Ganzorig shouts in rage. Derek was frozen in fear and waited to hear a gunshot, but instead, he heard a scream of pain. A lion had just pounced Ganzorig and was ripping him apart like a mannequin. He screams in agony as his intestines were ripped out and blood was spilling out. Ganzorig was dead before his body went limp.

Derek thought that the lion was going to turn on him, but he spotted a figure appear from out of nowhere behind the lion. It was none other than Chang, the guide that his girlfriend called.

"Hello there," Chang waved politely.

"Chang, watch out for the lion!" Derek screamed. Surprisingly, the lion, once it was finished with the corpse of Ganzorig, approached Chang and the guide stroked its head lovingly.

"Don't worry," Chang promised to the worried adventurer, "This is Shiva and she is friendly." He gestured for Derek to come forward towards him, which he reluctantly complied to do. "Pet her, she likes being pet on the head."

"Hey there, girl," Derek spoke in a soft voice. He petted Shiva softly on the neck and smiled at her. "Her name is Shiva, like the Hindu god? Like the name of that tiger on _The Walking Dead?_"

"Correct, I named her after that poor tiger. I love that show. She won't bite, so you can play with her."

Derek looked at Ganzorig's bloody and ripped up corpse. _Yeah, won't bite huh?_

"Only if I tell her to bite, then she will bite," Chang continued.

"So, this the backup you told me about? I was expecting people with guns."

"Not how I operate, plus, she is a much more efficient fighter than any gunman." Chang petted Shiva again.

Derek looked at the corpse of both Tzi and Ganzorig. _Two down, two to go._ He turns back to Chang. "Listen, buddy, can you guide me towards the Gunju Xia Trench, I must go."

Chang put a hand onto Derek's shoulder and said, "I won't be able to guide you."

Derek's eyes widened. "Why not?" Derek asked calmly.

"Before I arrived, I was so sure that Batu Khan had spotted me and I now sense that he is following me. If I take you towards the trench, then I will be leading him towards the Peaches."

Derek stutters, "Maybe you can-"

"Shiva will guide you."

Derek stares all wide eyes at the lion. "This lion is going to guide me towards the Gunju Xia Trench? How?"

"She has traveled with me to the Gunju Xia Trench before, she knows the way." Chang then said something in Chinese to Shiva. She purrs and Chang pets her once more. "Trust me, follow Shiva and you will find the trench."

Derek gave a long and pensive sigh. He could not believe that he was going to bet his life on a lion that only lives to tear its prey apart but ever since Easter Island, things were always going to be unconventional. "Alright, if this lion will guide me to the Gunju Xia Trench, then I guess I have to follow."

Chang suddenly hugged Derek and said goodbye to Shiva before he walks off into the desert, back to civilization.

"So, Shiva, I guess it is just you and I now. So, why don't we get in the truck?" He walks over the dead Ganzorig and opens the driver's door. Shiva hopped in and sat down in the passenger seat. Derek looted both Tzi and Ganzorig before getting into the truck and starting the engine.

"Watch and learn, Shiva." He pets her once again before he puts the key in the ignition and shifts gear.

"Now this is how you drive a car." Derek puts his foot on the gas and drives off into the direction that Shiva was staring at.

After driving in the Gobi Desert for several hours, the car had broken down and the fuel was empty. "Shit!" Derek cursed at himself. He turns to the lion, "Guess what, Shiva. Looks like we are walking from here."

Derek opened his door and hopped out, Shiva followed right after. "Okay, Shiva, this is your turf now. Lead the way, girl."

Packing up two canteens of water and two bags of MREs, he follows Shiva into the Gobi Desert.

"Man, it is so hot," Derek complained. "How does Omaria stand this?" He hated being out here in this heat. "So hot. Shiva!" He calls out to the lion in front of her. "How can you be so used to this heat?" She did nothing but purr. "Just what I was thinking, girl."

Following very carefully in Shiva's footprints, he made sure that he would put a canteen of cold water to his head to prevent dehydration. "Why did I come here during the hot season?"

Shiva growled at something. "What is it, girl?" Derek asked as he stepped up beside her. He saw something in the distance. He and Shiva walk carefully towards the thing. It grew in the distance and then Derek saw what Shiva saw, a corpse of a man and a camel.

"What the hell happened here?" he whispers to Shiva before he examines the corpses. "The bite radius looks enormous." There was a huge chunk torn out of the camel's hump. "What the hell kind of creature did this? No pack of lions could have done this, they would have taken more than a huge chunk out of a camel." He turns to the man. He was an explorer-like Derek, but there was something very odd about his corpse. His head and chest were gone and all was left was guts spilling from its waist and his blood painting the sand around him red.

"What the hell is this? This is so grotesque." Derek looted the corpse for any clues as to what happened. "Looks nothing like any animal I have seen before." Derek began to avoid thinking rationally and start thinking supernaturally. Okay, no possible animal in Mongolia could have taken one huge bite out of these two." He began thinking about Mongolian folklore. "In the Gobi Desert…" he begins to Shiva, "...there is believed to be some kind of legendary monster that roams the Gobi Desert." He tries to remember the name of the creature. "The Mongolian death worm." He turns away from Shiva, who was growling. "Legend says that the Mongolian death worm inhabits the western or southern part of the Gobi Desert. It is barely two feet long and can kill anybody instantly. Either through touch or ejecting its venom at people. It hibernates every month of the year, save for June and July and it comes out when it rains and the ground gets wet. Up to date, people who have gone this far into the Gobi Desert have never come back."

Shiva growls.

"It's alright, there is no Mongolian death worm here, it is just a myth," Derek told mostly to himself. "But, I've seen an underground world before on Easter Island and I have all kinds of stories from Cassie's parents." He was starting to scare himself. "And all those stories did happen." He was scaring himself.

Shiva approached him and she licked his cheek after sensing his fear. "Thank you for the comfort, Shiva." Derek petted her. "Right now…" he looks around to see if he can spot anything. "Batu Khan and Sarnai are the least of our problems." He tries to comfort himself and Shiva.

Derek and Shiva continued moving forward. Derek looked up and saw grey clouds starting to form, the rain was indicated to come down at any moment. "Oh crap, it's starting to rain." Derek turned Shiva. "We have to get to shelter Shiva, especially since the Mongolian death worm might be hiding and waiting for us." He leads Shiva in whatever direction he could. The rain was already starting to pour down on them. "WHY!" he cries into the sky, water sticking to his face.

Derek and Shiva finally find this one place they could take shelter. It was a large rock with an overhead ceiling that was big enough to cover them from the rain. Shiva sat down right next to Derek and began using her body heat to warm Derek.

"You know, if we both want to stay warm, we better build a fire." Derek removed the jacket he was wearing and folded it. Taking out his Zippo lighter, he lights the jacket in flames. "Better be worth it, I liked that jacket." He puts the jacket down and probes his hands around the fire. Shiva just stood as close as she could towards the fire. "I'll just buy another jacket, am I right Shiva? Plus, you really shouldn't wear a jacket in the desert."

Shiva curled up like a cat. Derek petted her sweetly. Derek just gazed at beautiful fire and waited to fall asleep.

He was about to close his eyes until he saw something large protruding in the sand several yards away. Both Shiva and he stared at the thing wide-eyed (even Shiva). Something was sticking out of the sand. It was the Mongolian death worm, real, alive, red, and slimy.

Derek yanked out his pistol from his waistband and shot at the death worm. He fired two bullets into it and the death worm wasn't fazed in the slightest.

Derek got a good view of the death worm. It was red, two feet in length but it was incredibly fast and had huge fangs that looked painful just looking at it. Derek grabbed his burning jacket, making sure to hold the part of the jacket that was not flaming. He and Shiva crawled out from under the rock and ran off. The worm was chasing after them. When it got closer, Derek waved the flaming jacket at the worm, keeping it back. Once the worm snatched the jacket away, Derek ran like hell out of there.

"Sweet baby Jesus help me! SWEET BABY JESUS HELP ME!"

All of a sudden, while running, Shiva ran in between Derek's legs and now Derek was sitting on Shiva's back. She ran as fast as she could, fifty miles per hour. Derek looked back and saw the death worm was slithering as fast as sixty miles per hour.

Derek decided to shake off the monster by aiming his pistol in his worm. He fires three bullets into the monster, the result the same as before.

All of a sudden, Shiva yelled and went collapsing. Derek went flying forward a few feet. He rolls onto his back, but when he stopped, he aims at the monster. He fires several times into the monster. He wasted nearly an entire magazine into the worm. This time, it was fazed by the gunshot. The monster screeched in pain and dug back into the sand, retreating.

Derek stood up and dusted himself off. He heard a whimper. Shiva was lying painfully on her side, a red mark on her left hind leg that was starting to blister and bleed. "Oh no, Shiva, are you alright?" Derek approached her. He wanted to pet her, but remembered, that if touching Mongolian death worm results in instant death, is it possible, that touching a victim of the death worm would result in the person's death. He felt really sad for not being able to pet her. "I am so, so sorry, Shiva." He could tell she was in a lot of pain. She was howling in real pain. "I am so, so sorry Shiva." He says again. Taking out the magazine in his pistol, he checks to see how many bullets he has left. He slaps the magazine into the gun and cocks the gun. He aims the gun at Shiva's head. "I will make sure, you feel no more pain." He looks away as he pulls the trigger.

Several minutes later, he was still sitting on his knees and in the sand. He slapped in another magazine of bullets. He felt bad for shooting Shiva, but he felt glad for putting her out of her misery.

"What now?" He stands up and looks around. In the far distance, he saw something. Some kind of rocky structure. "What?" He gasps. "Gunju Xia." He smiles. "Shiva, I will make sure your death is not in vain."

Derek had traveled a long way from Shiva's corpse to the trench. It was larger than he even anticipated. Now he knows why this trench is still uncharted, because of the Mongolian death worm acting like some kind of guardian or scarecrow to frighten trespassers.

"At most beautifully," Derek said upon entering the trench. With his gun loaded, he keeps his guard up for the Mongolian death worm. **(I do not own the song, Whatcha Say, Jason Derulo does)** "Wha-Wha-What did you say?" Derek began singing, "Mmm whatcha say, mmm that you only meant well? Well of course you did. Mmm, whatcha say, mmm that's all for the best? Of course, it is."

Derek began humming an old song as he walked into the trench. He was so amazed by its beauty.

"So this trench is twelve miles long." He recalled what he had learned about the trench. "No life, yet plants continue to grow. Pools of water, fresh and drinkable water most likely and dates." He called out whatever he could find. There could be a whole town living here. An entire civilization hid from the world.

"Boy, I can't wait to tell Cassie about this adventure." Speaking of which, he decided to call her and tell her all about it. He told her everything, leaving nothing out.

"That is amazing, Derek," Cassie says cheerfully on his phone.

"I am so close to finding the Peaches and to get back to civilization. Just hold on a little bit longer in that prison."

"Okay, I will bear with you for the next week. I am going on trial. That tape you recorded of Batu Khan will most certainly prove my innocence and his guilt."

"I know it will. As soon as I find the Peaches of Immortality, I am getting out of Mongolia and bringing you the tape for your trial."

"I owe you one Derek." Cassie was forced to hang up.

Derek put his phone back into his pocket and continued to roam the trench. "Where the hell am I supposed to go."

_Follow your gut buddy._

"Who said that?" Derek demanded to the voice.

_It's me, your mind. You're talking to yourself, you idiot._

"Oh, so I am talking to myself?" He chuckled at himself. "Wait, I get to say what my mind says. I can keep myself occupied while I look for the Peaches of Immortality."

He was starting to laugh at himself for talking to himself.

"Okay, talking to myself is creepy." Derek slapped himself. "Stay focused, Derek." He kept himself occupied by humming music while also looking through the trench.

He then spotted something.

It was a very tiny hole in the wall, but he could squeeze through. He was considering turning back but when he saw a carving of Shiva himself, he decided to crawl right through the hole.

Going through headfirst, on the other side of the room was none other than a room of elaborate puzzles. A doorway actually, but surely a doorway to the Peaches of Immortality.

"End of the road." Derek begins approaching the door. He looks for any doorknobs but finds none. He was about to figure out the puzzle until he heard something. He was no time to react when the wall with hole blew apart.

Derek dodged any debris that came his way. When the debris stopped coming his way, he found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol and who was holding this gun was none other than Batu Khan. Who came in after Batu Khan was Sarnai, who was holding a shotgun and another man, who was shoving in a gagged up man. It was Chang.

"Chang, what did you do to him?" Derek glared at Batu Khan.

"We did nothing to this Chinese man. He got himself captured and he told us where the Gunju Trench was," Batu Khan answered for Chang.

"Who the hell is the charmer holding him hostage?" Derek asked Sarnai. She was wearing nothing but a pair of old boots, jeans and a tank top that showed off her curvy features and Derek would be lying if he said he didn't like those curvy features.

Sarnai gestured to the older looking man, who had brown hair and blue eyes and somewhat resembled Sarnai. "This here is Arban, my older brother."

"So, you are the American that killed my two brothers Tzi and Ganzorig," Arban spoke bitterly, "You are going to pay for their deaths."

"Patience Arban, Sarnair, we still need Lowell. It looks like he found some kind of door and he needs to open it for us," The crime boss appeased.

Sarnai and Arban were seething with anger, but unfortunately, Derek was still of use to them and they were told never to get rid of valuable items.

"You're right my Lord," Sarnai says slowly and carefully to her leader.

Arban nods with her, "Yes, you are."

"Good, now Mr. Lowell, you open that door or else I have Arban put a hole in Chang's head."

Derek did not hesitate.

"Alright then." Derek turns to the door. A single rotating knob was all there was. But it had symbols on it. "Okay, three symbols, three Hindu rulers. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva." He says to himself and began wondering if Chang was aware of Shiva's fate. He rotates the knobs several times until he hears a click which causes him to flinch.

"What just happened?" Batu Khan asked, clearly feeling threatened.

"Patience, I am trying to figure out this puzzle." Derek rotates the symbols a few more times. He was rotating it so Brahma was on the top and the Shiva on the bottom to open the door.

"Hurry up!" Batu Khan commanded impatiently.

"Patience, Batu Khan." He finished putting Vishnu in the middle and a louder click happened. The door opened. Everybody was amazed at what they found inside. Some kind of ritual room with lamps.

Batu Khan shoved Derek forward, indicating he wants Derek to go forward to take any possible dangers. He did as he was told. "Alright, calm down."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Can we kill him now?" Sarnai was getting impatient. Arban was behind her and pushing Chang forward.

"Yes, when the time right, then you have permission to kill Lowell," Batu Khan told. Although both Sarnai and Arban were angry and vindictive, they were still patient.

"Yes my Lord."

What Derek saw in the middle of the room was nothing. But what he saw at the wall on the opposite side was a hole. He took a few steps closer to get a better look. Inside, were the Peaches of Immortality.

Derek was amazed at what he saw. Three smalls peaches of the richest gold color he has ever seen before hidden within a hole less than teen feet away from him.

Unfortunately, Batu Khan saw what Derek saw. He stared at the three small peaches in the hole and laughed. "Beautiful."

Derek felt something being shoved into his back. Batu Khan was shoving his gun into Derek's back. "Do the honors of retrieving the Peaches for us."

Derek was about to refuse until he saw Araban chamber a bullet into his pistol and jam the gun into Chang's head. "Wait, don't hurt him!" Derek pleaded, "I will go get the Peaches of Immortality."

Derek had to think of something. He could distract them long enough to engage them, but he was outnumbered three to one. And they had leverage. Before he reached into the hole, he had noticed that there was something in the hole. Red skin that surrounded the gold-colored Peaches. It looked just like the skin of the Mongolian death worm. If he touched the skin, he would die instantly is what he was theorizing. He had devised a plan. He may be outnumbered, but he wasn't outwitted.

He reaches in, being very careful to avoid touching the skin and pretended to reach as far as he could. "I can't reach it."

"Oh for God's sake." Sarnai went to the hole. She pushes Derek out the way and reaches inside. She feels something slimy inside, then a massive wave of agony flowed through her body.

She pulls back her hand and looks at her fingertips. They were covered in a reddish substance. She collapsed onto her back and coughed. She was coughing up a lot of blood. "You trickster." She glared up at him. Her eyes were bleeding red and so were her nose and ears. Arban just stared at her in horror, unable to react in any way. His sister was dead.

"Tell Tzi and Ganzorig I said 'hello'," Derek told to Sarnai corpse mockingly.

Arban was furious now, his sister had just died right in front of him. He never felt such rage before, he was now going to kill Derek, whether Batu Khan wanted him to or not.

"Lowell!" Arban shouted and aimed his gun at Derek. He flinched as he heard a gunshot. Derek was looking at his chest to see if he could find any gunshot wound. He looks at Arban and saw his chest was bleeding profusely.

"No killing, Arban." Batu Khan aimed his gun at the floor, Derek noticed that the barrel of his gun was smoking, indicating that he was the one who shot Arban. Unfortunately, Arban was still alive, but lying on the ground in a puddle of his blood.

"Grab the Peaches for real this time," Batu Khan ordered before firing in Chang's direction. The bullet missed Chang's head by an inch but it wasn't a kill shot, it was a warning shot.

Derek, reaches in very carefully, without touching the skin, and grabbed a peach. Putting it in his free hand, he reaches back into the hole and grabs the second Peach. Putting the two on the floor, he reaches in to grab the last one. When he looked back, Batu Khan had snatched the two Peaches and consumed them ravenously.

Derek stared at Batu Khan in horror just as he pulled out the last Peach.

Then, something went wrong.

Batu Khan had his veins protruding and they were appearing on the tip of his fingers to his neck. Derek was shocked, something was dreadfully wrong with Batu Khan.

Pretty soon, Batu Khan's fingers where the protruding veins had appeared, began falling off, leaving nothing but blood squirting out of his wounds. He screamed in terror, not pain, as the horrifying realization sunk in: He was falling apart. Pretty soon, his entire body became unstable and he collapsed into a puddle of his blood, melted away in a puddle of his blood.

Derek stepped over Batu Khan's corpse, still holding the Peach and went to untie Chang.

"What the hell happened?" Chang asked, confused.

"Overdose," Derek already had an answer based on the myths, "There was a myth that if one consumes too many Peaches of Immortality, then they would fall apart. Eat one, you're immortal, eat two, you die."

Holding the very last Peach of Immortality in his hand, he throws it to the ground and lights it on fire with his zippo.

"The World is full of myths. Who's to say what's a myth and what's historical?" Derek said. "The only real way to achieve immortality is to leave a legacy behind." He and Chang were about to leave until they heard a groan on the ground. Arban was still alive.

He was crying in pain. When he saw Derek and Chang tower over him, he said only one thing to them: "Kill me, please. Put me out of my misery and reunite me with my siblings."

Derek hesitated, but grabbing Batu Khan's pistol, he aims it at Arban's head and fires, killing the last of the siblings.

* * *

Just as he promised, when Derek returned to civilization, he bought pizza for Niko and Angie before he took a plane ride home (he had sex with Angie one last time as well). Using the tape he still had hidden in the sole of his boot, he played it during a courthouse, revealing Cassie's innocent and Batu Khan's guilt.

Derek had fallen asleep on Cassie's shoulder while the two of them were getting massages for their feet. Cassie would have woken him up, but he hadn't slept since he left for China and Mongolia.

She found it to be so cute that he was sleeping on her shoulder. He still got the foot massage, but he was sleeping right through it.

"Had a rough time in Mongolia, Derek?" Cassie asked her sleeping friend, "I thought so."

Cassie was already feeling sleepy. She hasn't gotten a good night's sleep since she was arrested. But, she did not want to fall asleep yet, she was getting a foot massage right now, she did not want to fall asleep now.

She leans back into her chair. She took out her phone, scrolling through her messages. There was one from her Uncle Sam. He was in Iceland.

The End of Chapter 2


	3. Secrets in the Snow

**Warning: The villains in here have rape fantasies so just letting you know ahead of time.**

* * *

**Cassie Drake: Amateur archaeologist who took a thrill for adventure.**

**Derek Lowell: Beloved sidekick and best friend of Cassie.**

**Rudolf Schneider: Leader of a group of fanatical Neo-Nazis with stereotypical motives. **

* * *

**Extended summary**

**Cassie and Derek are back in action and taking a step away from their usual tropical environment in Hawaii, they head to the snowy wastelands of Iceland to search for both a lost city and mythical substance that grant one god-like ability.**

* * *

_Vril, the vital element of this underground world. Matter itself yields to it. With it, one becomes godlike. All but immortal. Pass through solid rocks, heal wounds, build cities in a single day-or destroy them. To possess Vril is to be invincible._

_The Arctic Explorer, Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, 1934_

Winter 2033

Maui, Hawaii

Cassie put on a jacket because it was cold outside, even though she was in Hawaii during December. She couldn't wait for Christmas in twelve days. She was going to celebrate Christmas with her best friend and crush, Derek Lowell. She has already started on the right foot by spending the night at Derek's house and she took a liking to his parents but Derek was absent around the house so she bonded with his parents.

She walked into her guest room and picked up a book. She was going to read a book in Latin outside. She looked at the beach, the sand looking warm and the water looking so peaceful. She checked her watch twice, it was barely seven o'clock and Derek was still not home.

When she looked at the beach, she wanted nothing more than to be with Derek. She loves him. First, they were friends, but when they turned seventeen, she started to develop feelings for him, but she was too scared to tell him, she was waiting for the opportune moment to tell him.

Unknown to her, Derek loved her too and he was too scared to tell her too.

Cassie looked to her right and saw Derek's father, Mister Richard Lowell, standing at the doorway. She smiled and waved at him and he returned the gesture. "Hey, Cassie."

"Hello, Mr. Lowell. Your son has been a very good friend that he forgot to tell me that he was leaving early for school. It's still winter break."

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"I argued with the teacher. The teacher told me that she hates me."

Mr. Lowell was confused at that statement. "Why would she say that?"

"I told her that her version of Christmas was 3⁄4 inaccurate. It involves all kinds of cultures instead of one." Cassie then went on to elaborate on her point: "Her version of Christmas was like George Washington Carver asking Cherokee to try huevos rancheros while Albert Schweitzer marries Joseph Stalin and adopts a boy named Fidel Castro while celebrating with kimchi, Chrysanthemum tea, and having flan de ciruela."

Mr. Lowell laughed at that statement. "You said all that?" She nodded. "What did she give you detention, suspension?"

"She threatened to expel me from school, but instead she suspended me for one week." The family puppy came running out of the house and jumped onto Cassie's lap. "Hi, Little John," she awed and petted the tiny Dachshund.

"So, since you are officially suspended, what are you going to do?"

"I think I'll do something crazy." Cassie leaned back in her chair as she thought of endless possibilities while she continued to pet Little John.

Mr. Lowell shrugged, "Like what?"

"I don't know but something thrilling and risk-taking, I'm nineteen-years-old, I should do something that involves adrenaline."

"As long as you come back alive," Mr. Lowell reminded, "I'm sure your parents would appreciate it if you came back alive."

"I promise to come back alive. I think I'll go on vacation to somewhere I've never been to before. Like Italy or France." Cassie put Little John down. "You know, my Uncle Sam is in Iceland, digging for some kind of ruins for a lost city."

"Iceland sounds somewhat promising," Mr. Lowell hesitated.

Cassie slept soundly in her room. She missed Derek so much and was disappointed to hear that Derek's girlfriend, Angie, was back in town and he decided to visit her. Also, she had a daughter who was born in October of last year and Derek so desperately wanted to figure out if her daughter was his.

Cassie began snoring until she heard something downstairs. It sounded like a loud thud, but woke up immediately and looked a little scared and she was hoping that Derek came home early. She got out of bed and walked downstairs very slowly and carefully; who knows who it was? It wasn't Derek's mother or father because she heard them snoring. Who could be in their house at three o'clock in the morning?

Cassie grabbed a baseball bat from underneath the couch and walked into the library, the source of the disturbance. She saw a man in black looking through all kinds of books. He was pulling them down and looking through each one with a flashlight.

Cassie raised the bat and struck the man in the back of his head. He collapsed and landed hard on his front. Cassie was going to strike him again until she heard a noise behind her. She heard a gun being chambered and she raised her hands.

"Keep your hands up, you bitch!" the voice said in a thick German accent. The man took the bat from her and struck her hard in the back. "Schneider, hast du das Buch gefunden?" the man asked the first man in German.

The first man - Schneider - spoke in German. "Fast. Ich brauche noch zwei Minuten. Cover me, Schmidt."

"Ja," the second man - Schmidt - nodded. Schneider began looking through more and more of the books. He stopped at one and opened it. "Mein Gott, I found it," Schneider said before he took pictures of certain books before turning to Cassie.

"You are now going to pay for striking me with that baseball bat." Schneider grabbed the bat and began hurting Cassie, showing no mercy.

Schmidt began kicking Cassie in the back and stomach. He places a silencer on his pistol and places the barrel to Cassie's temple. "No land beyond the Volga," Schmidt said.

Cassie squeezed her eyes shut, she was about to get shot.

She heard a gunshot, but she was still alive. Schneider and Schmidt looked and saw Mr. Lowell's wife, Mrs. Erica Lowell, aiming a Beretta 92FS at them. Schmidt clutched his stomach, he was shot. "Jaekel, Ebert!" Schmidt shouted. Two men jumped Mrs. Lowell, but even though Mrs. Lowell was forty-four, she still overpowered the two due to her experience in the military.

Schneider and Schmidt used this opportunity to escape through the back door.

Mrs. Lowell punched Jaekel and he went collapsing. Ebert dove for the gun, but she redirecting his line of fire and Ebert shot himself in the chest. He collapsed headfirst to the ground, dying almost instantly.

Jaekel gasped for air before he fell asleep.

Mrs. Lowell attended Cassie, who was covered with cuts and bruises and bloody wounds. "Cassie, don't worry, I am going to take you to the hospital." She called an ambulance.

"Mrs. Lowell, they took pictures of a book, it was one that concerned the Arctic," Cassie managed to say.

"They did?"

"They were German, and they were up to something," Cassie passed out.

Cassie regained consciousness and found herself in the hospital and a hospital gown while lying in a bed. She was hooked up to an I.V. bag and had an icepack on her busted lip. She looked to her left and saw that it was still nighttime (or very early in the morning). She looked to her right and saw Derek's parents sitting in chairs.

Cassie called them and they woke up.

"Cassie, sweetie are you alright?" Mrs. Lowell asked with concern.

"How are you feeling?" Mr. Lowell asked with a worried voice that matched Mrs. Lowell's.

"I'm doing fine, thank you," she answered somewhat sarcastically. "They beat me up, but I got a good night's sleep." She removed the ice pack from her busted lip. The wound was already starting to close up. "How long have I been out?"

"Two hours," Mr. Lowell put in for Cassie, "The doctors hooked you to an IV."

"I can see. What happened to the Germans?"

"Well, two escaped," Mrs. Lowell answered with a smirk. "And I beat up the other two called Jaekel and Ebert. I killed Ebert and Jaekel is currently in police custody."

"Who are these people?"

"We don't know. The captured German says he refuses to speak to anyone beside you."

"What?" Cassie looked confused. "Why would a German want to talk only to me?"

"We don't know, but if we want answers, we the choice is up to you."

"We don't know what this man called Jaekel is capable of," Mr. Lowell put in to remind them, "Why not we just beat it out of him?"

"I got a closer look at this man named Jaekel," Mrs. Lowell said with a somewhat sad voice, "He's...just a...kid. No older than seventeen."

"Why would he do this?"

"Who knows, but when Cassie recovers, he wants to talk to her immediately."

Cassie hesitated to talk. Was she going to talk to a killer? She might. She then remembered something. "Mr. and Mrs. Lowell, I remember something from these Germans."

"What do you remember?" Mr. Lowell asked first.

"The name was the first man was Schneider and the second man was Schmidt."

He held up four fingers. "Schneider, Schmidt, Ebert, and Jaekel. Four Germans. Ebert is dead, Jaekel is in custody and the other two are on the loose."

"I vaguely remember Schmidt says, in German, that Schneider found the book. He took pictures of some pages."

"Yeah, I looked at the book, it was a book about the Arctic explorer named Evelyn Baldwin. The pages that the Germans took pictures of was about a lost city in Iceland called Ultima Thule, and some kind of vital element called Vril."

"What is Vril and this Icelandic lost city called Ultima Thule?" Cassie asked, hoping that Derek's parents were well educated in archaeology.

"Well…" he began explaining something, "...Our son told us that Ultima Thule is a legendary city said to be located at the top of the world, also known as Iceland or the North Pole. Other names for Ultima Thule include Agartha and Shambhala, although your father already found both. Ultima Thule is just another lost city that is connected to the hollow earth theory."

"And this vital element called Vril?"

"Evelyn Baldwin wrote about it. To possess Vril, one becomes godlike, all but immortal. One hundred years ago exactly, a Nazi group of archaeologists called the Thule Society went looking for the vital element in the lost city to achieve world domination."

"So, they are Neo-Nazis?"

"They may be the Neo-Thule Society."

"Now we know who these Germans are." Cassie nodded. "I hate the Nazis."

Moments later, Derek Lowell came bursting into the room looking out of breath. He noticed Cassie on the bed and he went over there to check on her. "Are you all right?"

Cassie nodded, "I'm fine."

Derek was about to ramble on about how sorry he was until his mother slapped him upside the head and it startled him to the point where he was crouching down. "Where have you been, Derek Lowell?!" she roared at him, not attempt to mask her anger. Derek was scared on his knees and holding his hands up in front of him. "Do you not realize that because you were off with your girlfriend, that your best friend was almost beaten to death? Where is your shame?"

"I am ashamed, Mom. I was with Angie trying to figure out some important stuff, that's all. I didn't mean any harm to come Cassie's way."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to. I want to let you know, boy, that if something like this happens again because of your absence, I will beat your head against the bumper of my car until the airbags deploy so apologize to your friend for not being there, right now!"

Derek trembled in his voice as he tried to utter out his apology, "I'm sorry." She pointed to Cassie to indicate to say it to her, which she did. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I'm sorry."

"Now, son, your father and I will be leaving because the two of you have some catching up to do. Understand?"

Derek nodded again. "Yes, ma'am." His heart dropped in his chest when he realized what he had just said. "I mean, yes sir." He knew that his mother hated being called ma'am, even during her time in the Navy she was called sir. After that, his parents left the room so the two young adventurers could catch up.

"Hey, Cass," he said awkwardly.

"You have quite the mom," she joked but he misinterprets and took offense.

"Easy, that's my mother."

"Hey, I'm just messing around," she apologized. "By the way, how is Angie? Her daughter yours?"

Derek was hesitant to answer but he still did. "Well, it turns out that I'm not the father. She didn't cheat on me, she just went to a sperm bank." Judging by his forced smile stretched across his face from ear to ear, he was awkwardly uncomfortable. "Yeah, so...that baby is anyone's except mine but I'm okay. She told me that she knows how much I love my treasure hunting life and she didn't want to interfere in any way. I didn't even know that sperm banks donate sperm to teens. I mean, she is eighteen but still a teen…" he was now rambling on and Cassie put a hand on his hand to shut him up. "I'm sorry for not being here tonight when you needed me."

"I'm alright," she reassured. "I chased them away."

A few days later, Cassie had recovered and was taken to the police station. Cassie was given water and a Popsicle. She was taken to the interrogation room where she got a clear view of the German named Jaekel. Jaekel was a five-foot-eleven, seventeen-year-old with stereotypical blonde hair, blue eyes, and light skin, but he also had a sad face. It was almost like he was forced to do what he did a few nights ago. When Jaekel noticed Cassie, he smiled with happiness.

He felt his heartbeat increase, he was attracted to her. Cassie sat down on the other side and offered him a cup of water. He accepted it and drank it whole. Cassie then took a drink of her water and stared at Jaekel with intensity.

"So why do you want to talk only to me?" Cassie asked.

"I wanted to apologize," He seemed sincere. "I never wanted to hurt you or your father, but the Neo-Nazis forced me to."

"So they are Neo-Nazis. Tell me about them."

He briefly choked on his words over the fear of his comrades getting mad at him. "Well, the Neo-Nazi leader is named Rudolf Schneider and his right-hand man is Hans Schmidt. There are actually seven of us total, but now there are only five left, with me captured and Ebert dead."

"Tell me their names?" Cassie asked politely.

"Well, I already told you about Rudolf and Hans, then there is Franz Kruger, Garrick Herrmann, and then there is Zelig Brandt." Jaekel donned a neutral expression over his face as he sold his allies.

"Thank you. Now, tell me the Neo-Nazis motives."

"Well," he huffed, "The Neo-Nazis are mercenaries, but continue with the work of their ancestors, but with different motives. While the original Thule Society wanted to use Vril for world conquest, the modern-day Thule Society wants to sell Vril to the highest bidder, concerned more about money than global domination."

"Tell me, where is this modern-day Thule Society?"

"I will tell you, on one condition." Jaekel had a smile.

Cassie gave a face of anger. "Jaekel, I am not going to get naked in front of you."

Jaekel's eyes were wide with anticipation. "That is not what I wanted, although…"

"Jaekel," she warned with venom in her voice.

"I would like you to kiss me."

Cassie stared at him with a serious look. "Are you for reals?" He nodded. "Fine." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"On the lips." She did what he wanted and kissed him on the lips. His lips tasted like blood; to him, her lips tasted like cherry.

"Okay, I kissed you, now tell me where the Thule Society is," she demanded sternly.

"Okay, that is all I can tell you." He leaned in. "The seven of us Thule Society guys, we stayed at a warehouse that used to be a bottling factory for soda. It is on the other side of town. If you hurry, you might be able to catch them in time before they fly to Iceland. The book they took pictures of may contain clues to a possible location of Thule and Vril."

Cassie stood up and exited the room. She waved goodbye to Jaekel and regrouped with her parents. She told them everything that Jaekel told them.

"I may have to travel to Iceland and stop them if I can't stop them ahead of time, y' know?" Cassie told Derek's parents. "Your son might want to join me."

In the warehouse that Jaekel mentioned, the five members of the Thule Society sat a table at nighttime and played poker. While Hans, Franz, Garrick, and Zelig were focusing on poker, Rudolf was working on figuring out the clues to the map.

"Alright guys, I am in, I am all in," Garrick said, placing all his poker chips in. Zelig said nothing but threw his cards on the table, folding.

"I fold," Franz yielded.

"Me too," Hans then said.

"I am also in. All in." Looked up from the journal and looked at Garrick. Garrick revealed what his cards were.

"Flush to the ten."

Rudolf flipped his cards over. "Royal flush."

"What the hell!" Garrick spat angrily.

"Garrick, calm the hell down, we are playing for fun, and I am winning every one," Rudolf said with a sly smile.

"You are a sore cheater," Garrick snapped.

"And you're a sore loser." Rudolf countered.

"And a sore winner."

"At least I win," Rudolf said before extending his hand, offering Garrick a friendly handshake.

"Mama said never shake hands with a sore winner."

"Alright then, now can I get back to deciphering this journal please?" He resumed on deciphering.

Hans stood up and picked up a knife. He began playing five finger fillet. "Garrick, how about this, I challenge you to a game of five finger fillet. Three times in five seconds and you win a prize," Hans offered.

"No thanks, I hate knives," Garrick answered. Garrick turns to Zelig and Franz. "What about you Franz, Zelig?"

Zelig shook his head.

"Nein, I need my fingers," Franz said in a heavy German accent.

"Pussies," Hans called them.

"Alright Hans, you want a challenge, I'll give you a challenge." Franz stood up. "What is the prize?"

Hans pulled something from his neck. "The Iron Cross from 1944. It's yours if you win."

Franz grabbed a dagger and looked at Zelig. "Time me." Zelig nodded. "Now!" Franz completed the five finger fillet challenge, completing it in four seconds."Ja!"

"Assshole!" Hans scolded.

"I shoulda bet money on you, Franz. I wonder what our dead friend, Ebert Engel would have said," Garrick said excitedly.

"Yes you should've bet money, then you would gamble again and lose," Rudolf snarkily replied.

"Yeah well screw you too, Rudolf."

"Enough!" Rudolf snapped, "I have finally deciphered a possible map." Everyone curiously closed in. "Right now, the map does not provide a definite location, but the start of the trail to Ultima Thule may start in Reykjavik." He showed them a drawn map. "We take this ride to this isolated volcano somewhere out in the snowy wasteland, where we would crawl down into the active volcano and boom, we find Ultima Thule."

"Ultima Thule is inside a volcano, just like that?" Hans asked.

"Well, due to the intense heat, it prevents people from entering and going inside with helicopters will mysteriously and supernaturally cause the helicopters to malfunction, like a volcanic Bermuda Triangle in Iceland. We can't afford to waste any time. We must get to Iceland ASAP. Tomorrow, at dawn, we leave."

"What about Jaekel, he might have snitched on us," Garrick thought aloud.

"Which is why we need to leave at dawn. Once we get Vril, then we can kill Jaekel," Rudolf said with no sympathy in his voice nor regret in his voice.

It was now midnight and Cassie and Derek were already tracking down the warehouse the Jaekel told them about. It was nighttime and that helped with their stealth. They found the abandoned factory and slowly snuck in through a window. This place looked incredibly ancient but there were still empty soda bottles.

"So let me get this straight," Derek began whispering into Cassie's ear, "These Neo-Nazis are descendants of Nazis from the Thule Society?"

"Yep, Jaekel told me all about them," Cassie answered. "Even ninety years later, we still have to deal with the Nazis."

"Doesn't that Jaekel character seems suspicious, why would any Neo-Nazi willing give up information?"

"Willingly, only if I did something for him," Cassie smirked slightly.

"You had to do something for him?" He sounded annoyed. "Did he ask you to get naked in front of him?"

Cassie looked somewhat shocked. "No, but a kiss on the lips."

Derek felt something stabbed him in the chest. She kissed someone else and not him and he wanted to punch the lights out of Jaekel. He was overcome with jealousy.

"Just to let you know, Derek, I was picturing you when I kissed Jaekel," she appeased. Derek gave the biggest smile he could and sighed in relief. "Keep your voice down, Derek, I think I hear those Thule Fools."

Cassie and Derek were crawling underneath the ventilation shaft. They heard footsteps and voices above them. They carefully listened to the conversation.

"Okay, I called the airport and told them that Michael - us - are showing up at the airport at five o'clock and if we told the airport that if Michael fails to show up, then to call the police. We told them that we are government agents assigned to escort the president to Iceland for a peace conference." The voice that belonged to Rudolf.

"Sir, what do we do about the authorities?" an unidentified voice asked.

"Calm down, Garrick, chances are, the cops will chase after us and when we cross them, we will kill them," Rudolf answered.

"You are cold-blooded," Hans' voice said.

"That is why I am a Neo-Nazi, I love killing people, but having fun with girls." Rudolf laughed. "I'm more sadistic than Garrick."

"Before we leave," another unidentified voice said, "We should check on the whereabouts on our American friends."

"Good idea, Franz," Rudolf praised, "Zelig, call the police force, oh and hide your German accent. Gentlemen, get ready for a good night's sleep, we take off in five hours."

And with that, Cassie and Derek continued to crawl through the vents when the lights went out. They came out of the vents and found themselves hidden behind the poker table. They had spent a night playing poker.

Cassie searched the table and found nothing but a journal with Rudolf's name on it. She looked through it and saw that Rudolf had drawn a map. "Looks like our rube Neo-Nazis friends dared to draw us a map leading to Ultima Thule. How kind of them."

Cassie and Derek stayed up the rest of the night and went to the airport a quarter to five. If they got there on time, they could tell the airport that they are 'Michael' while the Neo-Nazis are people posing as 'Michael.' It was an ingenious plan.

Cassie was now dressed in a brown Henney shirt and jeans and wore custom made sneakers. Derek wore the same thing but a red white Henney.

Now running through the airport, they carried very little luggage, having already called Sam Drake and told them about the Neo-Nazis and to have equipment ready.

Just behind them, the five Neo-Nazis were hot on their trails. They left early because they discovered that their map was gone and figured that the Americans were already in possession of it.

Cassie made it to a checkpoint officer and told her that her name was Michael and Derek was his assistant, Michael. The checkpoint officer checks with airport security and they told that they called in earlier as special agents and their code name was Michael and they were assigned to escort the HVI to Iceland for a peace conference.

The checkpoint officer gave them their tickets and let them board the plane.

Just behind them, the Neo-Nazis, all who dyed their hair brown except for Rudolf, asked airport security if Michael was on the plane. Impatient and fueled by rage that he may lose his only chance to go to Iceland, Rudolf orders Zelig to seduce the checkpoint officer and steal five tickets to Iceland.

Zelig led the checkpoint officer to a storage room and knocked her out cold. He came out of the storage closet with five free tickets to Iceland.

They ran through the terminal and ran into Cassie and Derek. Cassie and Derek recognized Rudolf and a fight broke out. Cassie knocked Zelig into Franz while Derek headbutted both Garrick and Hans.

Rudolf punched Cassie in the jaw and kicked her to the ground. Derek elbowed Rudolf in the gut and pushed him into the group of downed Neo-Nazis. Derek helped Cassie to her feet and continued running down the terminal. They walked through the airplane door just as it closed.

Rudolf and his gang tried so hard to try and open the door but it wouldn't budge. The plane began to take off. Rudolf let go of the handle just at the plane took off but Garrick held a strong grip and was taken with the plane.

Cassie and Derek looked out a nearby window and saw Garrick desperately hanging onto the door's handle.

Cassie looked at Derek and joked, "There someone on the wing, some...thing."

Derek laughed. "What is it, ma'am?" Derek imitated. Then they were told by the flight attendant to sit down as they were getting ready to take off. They buckled up and Derek continued to look out the window.

The plane took off, but Garrick still held a strong grip on the handle. When they were about several thousand feet in the air, Garrick was beginning to lose his grip.

Derek motioned for Cassie to look out and they both saw Garrick hanging by one hand. It was getting suspenseful.

Garrick couldn't hold on anymore. He lost his grip. He gave a blood-curdling scream and fell thousands of feet to the earth. Cassie and Derek watched as Garrick disappeared into the clouds as he continued to fall to the earth.

"Four to go."

* * *

Iceland

In Iceland, two bandits were smoking a cigarette near a pier. The first bandit was named John Emerson and he was a brutal bandit. Not pity the weak or those he views as weak, he is a worthy ally of the Neo-Nazis.

The second bandit was his best friend named Albert Amundsen who was born in Turkey. Amundsen was a more compassionate man that Emerson was and that is usually what leads to conflict between the two.

Emerson's phone rang. He answers it quickly. "This is John Emerson of Iceland," he spoke and waited.

"Hell,o Emerson, nice to hear from you again," a voice belonging to Rudolf spoke.

"Hey Rudolph the rednosed dickhead," Emerson suddenly snapped.

"Don't call me that or I promise to kill you," the Neo-Nazi threatened.

"My mistake Herr Commandant," the bandit apologize sarcastically.

"Sarcastic, but thank you for calling me commander, makes me feel appreciated. Mr. Emerson, I have a job for you."

Emerson became curious. "What is your job for me?"

"I need you to capture two American individuals for me."

"Describe them."

"A male and female. The female is about five-foot-nine, nineteen years old, dirty blonde hair, hazel eyes, and speaks with an American accent. The male is almost twenty, maybe six-foot-one has curly brown hair, and brownish-green eyes and also talks with an American accent."

"Sounds general, but I will keep a lookout for people who fit your description."

"If you capture these two individuals alive, then the awards will be great. We promise you a lot of money, but after you capture them and bring them two us alive."

Emerson expelled a sharp sign. "This is why nobody likes you, Rudolf, not only are you a Neo-Nazi, but you are also a treacherous ally. Me and Amundsen demand payment before services."

"If I did that, then how would I know you wouldn't betray me?"

"What choice do you have?"

"You have no leverage, I have the money. What if I pay you half and give you half when the job is done and I will pay you three times after we Neo-Nazis get what we want?"

_Damn this guy was good_. "Fine then. Five hundred dollars today, five hundred after we bring you and fifteen thousand after you get what you want."

"It is a deal."

Emerson hung up the phone and turned to his friend Amundsen. "Albert buddy, we have a new assignment. Capture a girl and man alive and bring them to the Neo-Nazis. We get paid?" Emerson's phone beeped. Five hundred dollars was wired to his and Amundsen's account. "We got five hundred dollars now and we will get five hundred dollars afterward. I get five hundred and you get five hundred."

"Sounds fair," Amundsen shrugged.

"Now where to start. I say we wait for them at the international airport. Call our buddies."

At the airport, Cassie's uncle, Samuel Drake was already waiting for Cassie to arrive. He was already sixty-two years old and using a cane to walk. Ever since his Libertalia adventure in Madagascar almost twenty years ago, Sam had settled down with a girl and got married and had at least three children, two girls, and a boy.

Cassie and Derek stepped off the plane and out of the terminal. They looked everywhere for Sam, they found him sitting near the janitor's storage room. Cassie smiled upon noticing her uncle.

"Uncle Sam!" she cheered. Sam got up and walked towards her, opening his arms so Cassie could hug him.

"Cassie, sweetie." They hugged each other tightly. He notices Derek. "And Derek, you look like you haven't changed in years. You still look like that kid I played basketball with."

Derek chuckled lightly over the memories, "I know, being as handsome as I make me look young."

Sam hugged Derek after letting go of Cassie. "I have the equipment for you, it's at my place. My cabin is in your cabin."

Derek and Cassie looked at each other and smirked. "This land is your land, this my land, from California to the New York Islands."

Sam joined in and all three sang. "This land was made for you and me." He laughed with the energy in his stomach. "You guys are crazy."

"Then why'd you sing with us, crazy?" Cassie shot back at him.

"You got me there." Sam began walking. "Follow me."

Cassie noticed the cane Sam was using. "Do you need a cane all the time?"

"No, I just pulled my hip, It'll heal in a few weeks."

Just outside of their reach, the Neo-Nazis had arrived on the next immediate flight to Iceland and they were unnoticed by Cassie, Derek or Sam, and they were unnoticed by the Neo-Nazis.

Rudolf spoke in English to his friends. "We already have our allies ready to help us. I have a photographic memory, and If I could, I could lead us to the 'Palace.' "

"Garrick would be proud," Franz said in Italian that barely masked his German accent.

"We will avenge our friend," Hans said in French. They began speaking in multiple languages to distract any nearby enemies. Rudolf spoke in Serbian, Hans spoke in French, Franz in Italian, and Zelig in Polish. If Garrick was alive, he would have spoken in Spanish, and Ebert in Belgium and Jaekel would have spoken in Russian.

Most of the Neo-Nazis, if not all four of them had imagined them capturing Cassie and forcing her out of her clothes and forcing her to dance for them and then they would each take turns having fun with her and then sell her.

"So, what does this American look like?" Franz asked in Italian.

"I guess I can show you guys a picture. Let's go somewhere private," Rudolf told in Serbian. He took the three Neo-Nazis into the nearest corner and showed them a picture of Cassie, the one he took of Cassie the night she was sleeping before he and Hans broke into her house and took pictures of the book.

He smiled. When he took that picture, he may have been caressing her cheek and tried to sneak a kiss on her. But, he backed away from the opportunity, deciding to save her for the time when they had her.

Rudolf and the three Neo-Nazis followed Cassie, Derek, and Sam to his suite. They snuck onto the balcony and stalked them. At the airport, they bumped into Cassie and Derek by accident but the three failed to recognize them. They followed them and decided to stalk them, waiting for the right moment.

While Cassie was in the bathroom, Zelig was watching her draw a bath. He smiled when he saw her in nothing but a towel wrapped tightly around her chest. Rudolf, Hans, nor Franz noticed so Zelig caught to see Cassie naked all by himself. Then he remembered, she was nineteen and he was twenty-six. It was gross, he was a pedophile. _Who cares though?_ His eyes and smile widened when he saw Cassie completely naked and chuckled. _Oh hell yeah!_

Inside, Derek and Sam were talking about the Neo-Nazis. Derek was describing the seven Neo-Nazis and how Jaekel was in jail while Ebert and Garrick were killed. When Derek mentioned Jaekel's name, Sam grew more curious than cautious.

"Jaekel was the name of one of my workers," Sam told us the name came to his mind. Cassie came out of the bathroom fully dressed with her hair wet. Smoke was emitting from her body, she just took a long bath.

"Derek, the bath's all yours," Cassie bowed dramatically. Derek then got his clothes and went in. Zelig and Franz were now watching through the window. When Zelig wasn't looking Franz saw Derek naked. He looked away instantly and looked at Zelig with a mixture of anger and disgust.

When Derek was out, Sam decided to tell them both about Jaekel. Jaekel was one of the excavators working for Sam, specifically, he was his right-hand man in the project. Jaekel hacked into Sam's phone and found out the location of Derek's house. How they knew about the Arctic explorer Evelyn Baldwin remains a mystery.

"I have a theory, what if somehow, they were looking for maps to lost treasures rather than Ultima Thule specifically?" Cassie told. "Them stumbling upon the book about Vril and Ultima Thule was a blessing in disguise to them."

"I think that is a good theory," Derek supported, fury building up within him for not being home that night when Cassie was attacked.

Sam then told, "That German named Jaekel is about to sentenced to death for Nazism, breaking, assault and battery, and terrorism."

"But we thought Jaekel was forced to join the Neo-Nazis."

"No, turns out we looked at Jaekel profile. He is a real monster. He voluntarily joined for money." Derek explained the evidence to Cassie.

Suddenly, all the remorse and empathy she felt for Jaekel had shattered. She was forced to kiss a Neo-Nazi, she would have to wash her mouth and lips for a whole week. "That son of a bitch."

"I know, but we have four more Neo-Nazis to deal with and we have to find Vril before them," Sam told.

"Once we find Ultima Thule…" Derek paused. "...if we find Ultima Thule and Vril, what do we do next?"

"Well, I vote that we destroy Vril and prevent anybody from getting it," Cassie answered. "I'm sure Uncle Sam agrees."

"I do. I used to be in it for money, but not anymore."

"We know that, Uncle Sam. Mom and Dad told me all their adventures that happened. Since Derek and I want to be archeologists, we do things for research, but this is a race against evil. In one of Baldwin's quotes, all matter yields to Vril. To possess it is to become godlike, all but immortal. Build or destroy cities in a single day."

"It's very terrifying," Derek emphasized in a nonchalant tone.

"I heard a rumor that there is this one terrorist group called something; I am pretty sure it starts with an O," Cassie tried remembering. "This terrorist group wants to conquer the world. If the Neo-Nazis sell the Vril, then there will be nothing stopping them."

"Okay, we will set out to look for Ultima Thule tomorrow. Get some shut-eye," Sam ordered before he took action for himself.

Cassie and Derek went into one room and saw that there was only one bed. Cassie got the bed while Derek sat on the floor. There was nothing inappropriate between them.

Outside, the Neo-Nazis were freezing their asses off. Franz and Zelig had ice forming on their heads while Rudolf and Hans were freezing like ice cycles.

Rudolf turns to Hans. "Tell me, Hans, that we have received the payment from that terrorist group."

Hans shook his head. "They refuse to pay us unless we bring them the substance."

"Then let's not disappoint them." Rudolf devised a plan. "Alright new plan." The three Neo-Nazis gazed at Rudolf. "Me, Hans and Emerson are going to kidnap Sam and force Cassie to lead us to Ultima Thule. Franz and Zelig, you two and Emerson's partner, Amundsen, will kidnap Derek as a contingency plan. If she refuses to cooperate, kill Derek. If she refuses to look for Thule, kill Sam. Two birds with one stone."

Hans, Franz, and Zelig all smiled. They did the Nazi salute and said 'Heil Hitler.' "

"Shut up you pricks, not out here!" They put their hands down immediately.

At around three o'clock in the morning, the four Neo-Nazis met Emerson, Amundsen, and eight other bandits.

"Where's our money?" Emerson demanded fiercely. He held out his hand to emphasize his point. Rudolf paid him a couple of American dollars. "Why American?"

"It was all we could obtain," Rudolf answered in a mock sympathetic voice. "Plus, I kinda like America."

"When I am in America, I will use these." Emerson looked around. "Where are the Americans?"

"Change of plans, we decided to kidnap Derek and Cassie's Uncle Sam and coerce her into helping us find Ultima Thule. We know that she is the Daughter of Nathan Drake so she could be very useful."

Emerson had heard of Ultima Thule but had no interest in it, only money. "What's the plan?"

"Emerson, you, me, and Hans will take Sam into custody while Franz, Zelig and your friend will kidnap Derek." Rudolf looked at the bandit reinforcements. "I see you have eight bandits, we each get four."

"You are in no position to negotiate," Emerson challenged again.

"I'm not negotiating, I'm being serious," Rudolf said in a very serious voice. He pulls something out from his back pocket, his phone. "You see, on my phone, it said I already paid you. I have the money and just to point out, you are a liar."

"Screw you," Emerson said.

"Please excuse my goddamn Serbian and Icelandic, but did you just curse me?" Rudolf's voice almost pierced Emerson.

Hans, Franz, and Zelig aimed guns at Emerson. Amundsen and the eight bandits aimed guns at the four Neo-Nazis.

"You are outnumbered, Rudolf," Emerson pointed out.

"Well, you are outwitted," Rudolf spat back. "If you kill me, then how will you get the rest of the money? And if I don't find where that lost city, then how will you get the grand prize? You can kill me, but you may never get a chance with this much money again. This may be a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Emerson did not hesitate. He ordered his bandits to lower their weapons. "Rudolf, you have a deal."

Rudolf smiled. He looked over his shoulder and saw Franz and Zelig looking through the window, trying to see if either Cassie, Derek, or Sam were awake. Franz and Zelig smiled mischievously.

"Franz, Zelig, fall back in formation," Rudolf ordered to the two young Neo-Nazis. Franz and Zelig did as they were told. "Franz, Zelig, Amundsen, you guys kidnap Derek first." He then turned back to Emerson. "We kidnap Sam in ten minutes. So you and Hans get ready."

Then, two minutes later, Franz, Zelig, and Amundsen snuck into the place through an unlocked window and went into the bedroom. They found Derek fast asleep in one of the bedrooms and they slowly pulled him out. While Franz and Amundsen were pulling Derek out of bed, Zelig was watching Cassie make sure she wasn't going to wake up.

Franz turned and hit Zelig hard in the shoulder. "Zelig, wait until the time has come. Understand?" Franz whispered angrily. Zelig rubbed his shoulder and begrudgingly nodded. Zelig then mouthed the words To hell with you' to Franz.

Cassie woke up and found both Derek and Sam gone. She looked at her watch and saw it was barely five o'clock in the morning. She called out to them and searched everywhere. The only clue to where Derek and Sam were was a note on the coffee table. The handwriting was unrecognizable. It was one of the German's handwritings.

She read the note. It was written on both sides. She gulped water and read it.

_To Cassie Drake. Hello Cassie Drake. My name is Zelig Brandt but I am writing on behalf of Rudolf Schneider, Hans Schmidt, and Franz Kruger. And our icelandic friends emerson and amundsen. We have kidnapped your friends derek lowell and your uncle sam drake. If you want to see them alive, then you must do something for us. You must find Ultima Tool and bring us back Vril. don't try to follow us. If you refuse to cooperate, we kill derek. If you don't bring us vril, we kill uncle sam. God do I hate Uncle Sam. that bitch is named after the country I despise. Well kill your uncle sam and Uncle Sam. anyway, if you don't do anything we tell you too, then we kill both derek and sam instantly. On the back of the paper is a map of evelyn baldwin's map to Ultima Tool. you have two days to find it. Remember, bring us back vril or we kill sam and then derek. Have fun. By the way, Rudolf took a picture of you in your sleep and wanted me to tell you. Also, I saw you draw a bath and I saw you in nothing but a towel. You are very sexy (picture of a smiley face). I'd love to chat but Rudolph the red nosed reindeer is calling me. Auf wiedersehen und viel glück in finding Tool. Love Zelig Brandt._

Cassie put the paper down. She couldn't believe this was happening...a Neo-Nazi saw her naked, how humiliating. And her friend and uncle were missing. Cassie buried her face into her hands. What was she going to do? She had to find where this 'Ultima Tool' was if she wanted both Derek and Sam to survive. Their lives depended on it.

She took a look at the map. The route to Ultima Thule started in Reykjavik and ended at some kind of volcano. If she had to go on this quest alone, then she will go on the quest alone. One way or another, she was going to defeat the Neo-Nazis and these Icelandic friends of the Neo-Nazis.

"Rudolf, Hans, Zelig, Franz, Emerson, Amundsen. I will kill all of you if you lay a single finger on either of them." She vowed to herself. "If you so much as even touch a hair on Derek and I will murder all of you." Ebert and Jaekel were already defeated, just six left to beat. By the way, she saw it, there were three options.

One, she killed them all slowly and painfully after finding Vril and Ultima Thule for taking away _her_ Derek.

Two, she gives up her soul and body to the Neo-Nazis to free them after finding Vril and Thule but she could never share a (possible) one-night stand with Derek later.

Three, she plays along with them, seduces all the Neo-Nazis while looking for Vril and Thule.

She has made her conclusion. She was going to go with the third option. She was going to seduce them and kill them. She had to find Vril and Ultima Thule not because she was forced to, but because she was lustful for another adventure and she wants to spend this adventure with Derek. She began packing up all her stuff and grabbed her map and journal. Since the beginning of the trail began in Reykjavik, she was going to get a taxi ride to Reykjavik and then begin her quest. She walks downstairs and checked out. She flagged down a taxi and told the driver to take them to Reykjavik. Inside, there was another passenger but had his back turned to her. She looked up in the rearview mirror and saw the driver. There was something familiar about the driver. The driver looked at the mirror and smiled. It was the Neo-Nazi named Franz. The other passenger was Zelig.

Franz parked taxis in an alleyway that was surrounded by Amundsen and four bandits from both sides. Zelig forced Cassie out and Franz confronted her.

"Hey there, Cassie, I see you got Zelig note. He has a learning disability y' know." Franz told. That would explain all the grammar errors. "So, you decided to look for Ultima Thule?"

"I sure did uhh…" Cassie began. "Franz?"

Franz nodded. "Correct. So, since you are going to find Ultima Thule, Rudolf told us that we are to follow you and make sure you don't pull any fast ones." Franz signaled for one of the bandits. He brought Derek all tied up and gagged. Another bandit put a pistol to Derek's temple.

"Remember, you pull any tricks, we kill Derek as a lesson for refusal to cooperate." Franz reminded.

"Why didn't you just kidnap all three of us and get it over with?"

"That would've been boring and Rudolf has a love for drama so we decided to spare you from being captured when we snuck into your suite."

"Franz, I want you to know one thing: Screw you."

Cassie and Derek were loaded in the back of a pickup truck. Derek was loaded in the front pickup truck while Cassie was in the other pickup truck. They began driving from Reykjavik and into the snowy wastelands of the snowy desert. The volcano to Ultima Thule was at least seventeen miles away in the middle of nowhere. Good thing they brought food, water, and blankets. All the guns and equipment that Cassie brought were confiscated, but for some odd reason, they let Cassie keep her pistol, albeit unloaded.

Franz and Zelig were in the front truck with Amundsen while the four bandits were guarding Cassie.

Cassie had to escape. She was quickly devising a plan. When the bandits were distracted, she was going to fight. One of the bandits was already touching her, but not raping her. When the bandit began caressing her inner thigh, she got so pissed. She jumped up and butted him in the gut and knocked him off the moving truck. Cassie pulled out her gun and hit another bandit in the head with the butt of the gun. The bandit went falling backward and off the truck. The last bandit reacted more quickly and attacked Cassie, almost shoving her off the truck. she knees him in the groin and shoves him off and to his doom.

It was time to commandeer the truck. Cassie climbs to the front of the pickup truck and crawls in through the passenger door. She gives a kick and the bandit driving and was kicked out. She jumps in the driver's seat and began driving.

Derek had noticed and waited for the right moment to attack Franz and Zelig.

All of a sudden, storm clouds began to form above them, indicating a flash thunderstorm. Thunderstorms in Iceland were very rare but this was like a blessing from the skies. Franz and Zelig looked up in amazement were attacked.

Cassie caught up, hit the cruise control and jumped into the truck with Derek, Franz, Zelig, and Amundsen. She helped Derek beat up Franz and Zelig. Amundsen was driving, but he was zigzagging to try and shake the Americans off.

Cassie and Derek fought the two Germans and were overpowered. When Zelig punched Cassie flat on her back, he laughed. He turns to Franz. Franz had beaten up Derek.

"Franz, these women. I knew they were the weakest of them all. Especially a woman like Cassie," Zelig said finally.

Cassie took extreme offense to what he said and kicked Zelig as hard as she could in the kneecap, breaking his leg before she kicked him in the groin. The blow was so powerful, it knocked him to his knees and he screamed in intense agony as his knee broke even more. Cassie proceeded with a kick to the face. Zelig went crashing into Franz and they both fell, almost falling out the truck.

Derek jumped backed into the driverless pickup truck and commandeered it. He waited for Cassie to jump in. She jumped but it resulted in her almost falling. She barely grabbed onto the back as Derek sped past the truck with Franz, Zelig, and Amundsen.

A lightning bolt struck the mountain beside them. A fifty-foot avalanche began to rain down. Cassie noticed and told Derek to drive faster. He drove as fast as he could with the avalanche closing in and the remaining pickup truck only a few yards away, yet Cassie struggled to climb back in.

Franz and Zelig looked up at the mountain and saw the fifty-foot avalanche finally after several late moments They gave a face of terror. Even Amundsen saw the avalanche from the windowless roof. All three of them screamed with terror (their last scream of terror). The avalanche consumed the truck and barely missed the pickup truck with Cassie and Derek. The avalanche finally died down, ending, barely missing Cassie and Derek by inches. Cassie let go of the truck as Derek put it into park.

Cassie and Derek jumped out of the car, ran up to each other like lovers that haven't seen each other in years and they hugged each other. Once the hug broke apart, they looked down the mountain to see the aftermath of the destruction. The pickup truck was nowhere in sight, it was buried deep in the snow. They gave a deep sigh of relief. There was no doubt that Franz, Zelig, and Amundsen were dead and buried deep in the snow for no one to discover.

"First Ebert, then Jaekel, then Garrick, and now Franz and Zelig," Derek counted.

"Three to go."

All Cassie could think of was the extreme coldness combined with the thunderstorm going on. The pickup truck they were in just died and now they were forced to walk the remaining ten miles to the volcano. _At least it will be hot once we get there,_ she thought.

The snow made it cold, the rain made it even colder. Chances are, she would get hypothermia and die. Derek managed to retrieve their confiscated equipment and was now walking in the direction that led to nowhere. She thought of walking back to civilization but she remembered that Rudolf threatened to kill her uncle if she didn't find Ultima Thule.

Derek stopped Cassie. "C-C-Cassie, I have to t-t-tell you s-s-something."

"W-w-what?" Cassie asked in between shivers.

"R-R-Rudolf knows where we a-a-are. He put a G-P-S in your water. Tell me y-y-you didn't drink any w-w-water." Derek could see his breath; neither of them was used to this kind of temperature because they were so used to the tropical Hawaiian environment. Cassie had suddenly remembered before she read the note, she gulped water. It must have contained some kind of GPS liquid tracker that contaminated the water.

"I drank water at the suite," she said. She rubbed her stomach as if she was pregnant. "I drank the water before reading the note. That must be how Franz and Zelig found me."

Derek slowed his breathing a bit, "It's alright. It's a good thing," he said optimistically. "Because Rudolf and Hans will have to be here with Sam to see Ultima Thule for themselves and for us to give them Vril. They will come here with a truck, meaning we could drive back to civilization."

"That is a very good idea, Derek," Cassie said, slowing her shivering.

Derek hugged Cassie to keep her warm. The rain began pouring down their heads. Cassie hugged him back, not to keep him warm, but to show him affection. She felt the beat of his heart, and to her, it made her feel loved.

Derek put one of his hands behind Cassie's head. He felt his lips on her hair, but could not feel anything. His lips were frozen solid.

Cassie squeezed tighter on her hug. Being this close to her reminded her that she dreamt of making love to him. At that moment, that was all she wanted to do. _Plus, it would warm us up._

Derek gave a sharp inhale. At that moment, he wanted to make love to her too. They could if they built a fire but making love in this wasteland was the last place any couple would want to do. Plus, they had to save Sam and they were not going to risk his life over a good ten or twelve minutes of mind-blowing sex. Either way, they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend and neither one knew they had feelings for the other.

"Cassie, have I ever told you…" He was about to tell her how much he loves her but was muted by the lightning flash.

"What?" Cassie shouted over the aftershock.

"Never mind." Then there was a clap of thunder. Nighttime was beginning to fall. "We have to find shelter!" he shouted.

They broke the hug and began running; they tired out easily. They had to escape the storm immediately. All luck had seemed to run out until they found a cave. They ran straight for it, ignoring all obstacles in their path.

"Yes, we did it!" Cassie cheered.

"Hell yeah!" Derek cheered as well, patting her on the back. "We got to strip out of these wet clothes."

"Yeah, you wish " Cassie laughed at him.

"I won't look. And it's either that or we freeze to death." He stripped out of his clothes first. He turned his back just as Cassie stripped out of her clothes. He tried his hardest to look away but curiosity had completely overwhelmed him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Cassie's naked back and she was sexy from her head to toe.

Derek felt his breathing increase and his heartbeat so fast he thought it would explode. He looks back and he gives an amused smile. _Cassie, you are very, very sexy._

Cassie watched Derek sleep. She was fully aware of the fact that he was looking at her when she was naked, yet she took it as a compliment. She also watched as he stripped out his clothes.

Cassie looked down and saw she was still naked, and no doubt that Derek was waiting. She decided to give him what he wants. Besides, he was still naked. When he sensed Cassie was in front of her, he opened his eyes. He saw Cassie naked. His eyes widened. He passed out from excitement.

Cassie put on a blanket and sat down next to Derek. The fire was the second thing warming up, the first thing was her love for Derek. She passed out.

Cassie woke up, still undressed and watching Derek trying to create an even bigger fire. When Derek saw Cassie, still naked, he looked away. He did not want to pass out once again. He snuck another look at her. She didn't seem to mind, so he kept looking at her. He felt his mouth dry up. He was going to pass out once again. He fell on his back, but the pain snapped him awake.

"Derek you have got to stop passing out on me," she worried.

"I can't help it," he stares at her chest but not something he was doing voluntarily. "You look…" He begins to lose consciousness once again and his eyes rolled to the back of his skull. Cassie slaps him awake. "...look very attractive, especially…" He points her chest. "...there." He lost consciousness again.

Cassie looked down at the once again unconscious Derek, how vulnerable he looked, so vulnerable. So kissable. She leans down and attempts to kiss Derek, then remembered, he might not love her and if she was going to kiss him, it was going to be mutual. She retracts her head back.

She put on fresh clothes and continued to sit by the fire. Once Derek woke, he put on clothes. They had to keep moving. Both of them; Sam's life depended on it. They were about to move out until they heard a ringing sound. It was coming from one of the bags. Cassie goes to investigate and finds a satellite phone.

"Hello," she spoke into the phone.

"Cassie, what are you doing on the phone?"

She smiled at that voice, "Rudolf, wazzup?! Franz and Zelig are dead, along with Amundsen. Derek and I are chilling out here in a cave and I was informed by him that you put a GPS tracker in a drink, am I correct?"

"Ja. Is it that you want Cassie? We still have your uncle in custody. Have you found us Ultima Thule?"

"No... But, since you lost your cooperation tool, Derek, and all you have is your 'Fine Me Ultima Thule' tool, then we are going to negotiate."

"Name your price. Must be reasonable."

"I want you, along with all of your buddies to drive up here with Sam and the other Icelandic bandits that you have left with you. You drive us to the volcano and you must physically come with us to Thule."

"Hmm, sounds fair, but you are in no position to reason with. But I'll humor you."

"You got us on GPS, you know where to go. Meet us here ASAP."

"Fine then. Like we said, no stunts aloud. We will be there in exactly two hours." Rudolf then hung up.

"Derek, in just two hours, the remaining Neo-Nazis and Icelandic bandits will be coming our way. If they want Vril, let's give them Vril." Cassie said in a thrilling voice, excited that she was going to find another lost city.

Two hours later, Rudolf and the other bandits and the last Neo-Nazi came in a big truck and drove Cassie and Derek to the volcano.

"You better not be screwing with us, Drake," Hans warned Cassie.

"Shut up, Hands," Cassie mocked, "Do you want to think I would chance it, especially since my uncle is in the back?"

Hans hesitated to answer. He knew she was right. Nobody would chance their family member's life. "Hey, how long till we get to the volcano?" he asked Rudolf, who was driving.

"We should be here right now." Rudolf pulled the truck to a stop. In front of them was a volcano. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the entrance to Ultima Thule."

Cassie and Derek were forced to climb up the mountain first while Emerson had Sam held at gunpoint at the back of the group.

When they climbed up to the top, they looked down into the volcano. It was filled with lava. The only walkway was at the bottom near the lava. Cassie rappelled down with the rope the bandits and Neo-Nazis brought and everyone followed.

Once they were on the narrow walkway, they began walking into this cave. This triangular cave that looked to be the entrance to Ultima Thule.

Once they were out of the cave, they found themselves in a big room. A big room with a metallic door.

"So, this is the real entrance to Ultima Thule. A door." Rudolf slaps Cassie on the back of the head with the butt of his pistol. "Open the door."

"Fine then. To hell with you, by the way, considering that we are already in Hell." She started rubbing the dirt off the door. She found something written in perfect English. 'The Fire in Ultima Thule is inextinguishable' it read. It must have been left by Baldwin himself. Was he speaking literally, or figuratively? They will find out soon.

Cassie finds three holes in the door. All of them hollow and deep enough to reach into. Cassie reaches into the middle one. Derek reaches into the left one. Rudolf ordered Sam to reach into the right one.

"So, how does this work?" Derek asked. He felt a lever. So did Sam and Cassie.

"I think we have to pull them at the same time," Sam suggested.

"Shut up and open the door. Time's a-wasting," Rudolf threatened and to show he was serious, he orders Hans, Emerson and the four bandits to aim their guns at them.

"Okay enough stalling. Ready to pull in three, two, one," Cassie counted down and all three pulled the levers at the same time.

The three pulled their arms out just at the door opened. It opened and Cassie and Derek were looking at none other than Ultima Thule itself.

"Wow," Cassie muttered.

"Amazing," Derek gasped.

"Just like the old days," Sam smiled.

"Vril, here we come," Rudolf cheers.

"It is much more beautiful than I thought!" Hans yelled.

"You got that right," Emerson licked his lips.

"Cassie, being a lady and lead the way for us," Rudolf order misogynistic all. Hans then once again held Sam at gunpoint.

The city was majestic and seemed to resemble some kind of palace. The path had a long and red bridge that all ten of them could past. Hopefully, they didn't encounter any supernatural creatures.

"So, Cassie. Are you ready to find Vril?" Rudolf asked rhetorically, "Once we find Vril, we sell it to the highest bidder and then we go find another mythical substance of power and sell it and so on."

"I hate people like you, Rudolf. You're a monster," Cassie insulted while walking forward. Once they crossed the long bridge, they had to walk through a series of mazes. It was like a long lost labyrinth.

"You better not be leading me into a dead end. Especially since we have our cooperation tool back," Rudolf reminded.

"Yeah yeah." Cassie rolled her eyes.

"We will then kill Derek and Sam when we're done," the Neo-Nazi said in a deep voice with a dark tone behind it. "Then, we would have you, temporarily, and then we would also sell you to the highest bidder."

Cassie felt rage fuming inside her. If she could turn into the She-Hulk, she would sure as hell want to. She turned around in an instant and punches Rudolf without even premediating it. The Neo-Nazi goes colliding with Hans and Emerson. Derek and Sam used this opportunity to attack the four bandits.

The four bandits were shoved to the floor and the three made a run for it. The four bandits tried to shoot at them, but as soon as they fired, all four of them caught on fire.

Rudolf, Hans, and Emerson gave chase. Somehow, they tired out quickly and watched as Cassie, Derek and Sam ran as fast and painful as they could.

"Stop, catch your breath," Cassie huffed and puffed, breathing in deeply.

"What the hell is going on? How did those four bandits catch fire?" Derek asked in an outraged tone.

"As long as we are still alive, who cares?" Sam asked.

"Shit!" she suddenly remembered. "We can't use our guns or else we'll catch fire. Something on the door, written in English, most likely, Baldwin, said that fire in this place is supernaturally inextinguishable."

"So, that means if we were to catch fire, then we can't put it out. We would burn to death." Derek pieced together.

"That means we got to watch our step," Sam warned, "We could use the inextinguishable fire to our advantage. We could force Rudolf, Hans, and Emerson to fire at us and they would catch fire."

"Good idea," Cassie nods, "We have to find Vril though. We have to find it and destroy it and makes sure it stays a myth."

"Yeah. If someone else finds Ultima Thule after today, they might take Vril and sell it. We can't allow that," Derek added.

"If my theory is correct, then Vril will be at the center of the city. We better get a move on." Cassie and Derek followed Sam.

After walking for several minutes, wanting to save their energy, they found a giant chamber that had some kind of furnace. Inside the furnace was some kind of green substance. Cassie went into to investigate but remembered that it was in a furnace that was on fire.

Cassie could throw a grenade in and blow up Vril but her thinking process was interrupted with: "Danke Schon, Cassie Drake. Danke schön."

"Rudolf, you son of a bitch," she cursed at him.

"What did you just call me, Drake?" Rudolf spat angrily, "You curse me one more time, Drake, I promise to break both your legs and make your life a living hell."

"It seems that we are both equally matched. Since its three on three," Hans pointed out.

Derek felt extreme rage at what Rudolf said when he said he would kill him and Sam and sell Cassie. He wanted to charge at Rudolph and toss him into the fire. But revenge is a dish best served cold.

Rudolf notices the Vril substance. "Cassie, once again, be a lady and grab the Vril substance."

"Nein," Cassie laughed at him mockingly.

"I won't ask you again. Get the Vril substance, or we will kill both Derek and Sam." Rudolf's voice had a more threatening tone. Cassie shook her head. "Hans, shoot Sam. Emerson shoot Derek in the throat."

"Go on, no hesitation," she chanced.

He hesitated. _Nothing seemed to break this girl._ He was going to have to grab Vril himself. Rudolf puts his gun in his belt and heads for the furnace. He reaches in, avoiding the flames, and grabs cover his hand in the greenish Vril substance.

His sleeve caught fire, however. "Shit." He rubbed the flames off in time and his hand was completely covered in the greenish substance called Vril.

The fire on his sleeve was not out; it was spreading up his arm. "Oh crap!" He was scared now. He attempts to put it out but it wouldn't. After that, he tried to wriggle out of his shirt, but the flames had already reached his jeans. Cassie charges forward and shoves him into the furnace. His entire body caught fire. Hans and Emerson went to go put him out. They yanked him out the furnace and tried to put out the flames. They only succeeded in getting each other sleeves caught on fire.

"Help!" Emerson screamed.

"Oh, Mein Gott!" Hans yelled.

Both of them screamed as their entire bodies caught fire and they tried to drop and roll. They screamed in intense agony and they felt their organs starting to burn. They gave one more shout as their lives were finally extinguished.

Rudolf was completely engulfed in flames. He was standing up with his skin black and still on fire. He growls at Cassie and lunges. She moved out of the way in time and Rudolf went crashing into the wall. He inhales deeply. He wasn't dying for some reason. It must have been the Vril on his hand from what she deduced.

But time was giving and the Vril substance was beginning to burn. Rudolf stood up once more and walked clumsily towards Cassie, like a zombie.

"You did this to me!" Rudolf managed to say in a groggy voice. "You did this to me, Cassie Drake." And with that, Rudolf fell backward. He fell flat on his back. This time, permanently.

"We did it!" Derek cheered, "We defeated all the bandits and Neo-Nazis."

"We sure did Derek," Sam panted. "We gotta get out of here. We gotta destroy Vril."

"It's a good thing that Hans had a grenade on him and I managed to grab it in time," Cassie smiled.

* * *

Christmas

Maui

_Dawn me now our gay apparel. Fa la la, la la la, la la la. Tis the season to be jolly. Fa la la la la, la la, la la._

Cassie began singing with her family. Christmas had arrived and right now, they were eating dinner at the table. A nice big turkey dinner. Sitting beside Cassie at the big dinner table was Derek, Sam, Elena, Nate, her grandfather Sully, Derek's mother and father, and Sam's wife and children. Even Angie and her daughter named Tiffany joined them and Tiffany sat on Derek's lap like she was his daughter.

The big family began their prayer. Nate was narrating something from the Book of Ezekiel.

When the prayer was done, Nate began cutting the turkey. Slowly, but surely. Once he cut the turkey, everyone began discussing what they got for Christmas. Cassie listened to all of them while eating the turkey. This was just the kind of Christmas she liked. When she spent it with her family, eating turkey and drinking hot chocolate.

So, after the ordeal adventure was over with and after Cassie set Ultima Thule on fire with the grenade, she began telling her entire family about the little adventure she and Derek shared, and Sam was their witness.

She and Derek told everything but left out the part where they were naked inside the cave. Not worth it (especially with Angie's daughter sitting on Derek's lap).

"First, that underground world at Easter Island, and now Ultima Thule." Cassie's Father began, "And Derek, the Peaches of Immortality in the Gobi Desert. What is next for Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell?"

Cassie looked at Derek and smiled. "All I can say is a lot more adventures in the future. I can already see us looking for the Noah's Ark, Xibalba, and the City of the Caesars."

"Or proving that mythical things like the Staff of Moses, the Dragon, and the Spear of Destiny is real," Derek added in his imagination.

"Y'know, kids. When me and Nate here first met," Sully began, "I saw great things in our future. We found El Dorado, Iram of the Pillars, and Libertalia. No doubt you guys can do the same."

"Thanks for the encouraging words Sully," Cassie said with a smile.

"No problem. Remember, if you guys ever need help, or contact, don't hesitate to call me."

"We won't, Sully," Derek said with a nod.

Derek looked and saw Cassie's hand. He felt a sensation in his hand to hold Cassie's hand. _Not yet, Derek. Not yet._

"You guys got any plans?" Cassie's mother asked.

Cassie and Derek looked at each other. "Atlantis." They said at the same time.

"If anyone is going to find Atlantis, I rather it is us," Cassie said. "Where will you start?"

"The Mediterranean," Derek answered off the bat.

_Yeah,_ Cassie thought to herself. She gave a warm smile to herself. _Life is sweet. I am glad I was born into this life._

The End of Chapter 3


	4. Atlantis

**Author's Note: To some of the reviews that I've been getting on my story about Cassie and Derek. To ****NinjazNeverDie: I know you want to see Cassie and Derek get together, but if you look at the timeline and compare to Drake Reborn and The Ancient Pharoah, it would not make sense. Also, I don't write lemons so don't be expecting any lemons.**

**Warning: Mentions of attempted suicide.**

* * *

**Cassie Drake: Daughter of Nathan Drake and college student on vacation that turns into the dive of a lifetime.**

**Derek Lowell: Cassie's sidekick who is fiercely protective of her.**

**Erkin Yura: A marine archeologist and good friend of Cassie and Derek from Kazahkstan.**

**Sydney Walker: A CEO turned pirate obsessed with wealth and becoming a god.**

* * *

**Extended summary**

**Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell, age twenty, off on summer break and by chance, they are drawn into another adventure in the most unconventional way possible. This time, they swim to the bottom of the infamous Bermuda Triangle to look for a legendary lost city that is so iconical, it eluded other archaeologists.**

* * *

_Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent._

Plato

Summer 2034

Maui, Hawaii

Cassie's POV

Six months, it has been six months since my adventure in Iceland with the Neo-Nazis. Now I know why it was called 'Iceland'; because you could freeze your ass off.

I just turned twenty about a week ago and since I considered twenty to be the true adult age instead of eighteen, it feels good as hell to be an adult. I spent nineteen years as a child and now that I am fully mature, I can live the rest of my life as an adult. I'm still a foot shorter than Derek and it was pissing me off but I had to admit that Derek was ripped. I remember when Derek and I were naked in Iceland (nothing sexual happening) and he was ripped with a six-pack. I was in shape, having a six-pack myself but he looked hot as hell with his shirt off.

I lied down on the soft and warm sands on Maui while I'm wearing a blue bikini. I just lie here, drifting off to sleep, not a worry in my head because there should be none. I have not gone on an adventure since December but I was already missing the thrill.

When I felt my skin turning red, I quickly got up and looked at the sea. The waves crashed beautifully as I see kids run into the waves. Man how I wish to swim in the water, but I had just gotten my delicate blonde hair straightened, so not happening, but it could happen tomorrow though.

All of a sudden, I felt someone staring at me. I slowly turn around and see my best friend Derek Lowell in his wetsuit with his goggles and oxygen tank on.

"Hey there, Cassie," he waves. "As you can see, I am going scuba diving now."

Yeah, I can state the obvious. "Yeah, I can state the obvious." I always had a habit of saying whatever was on my mind. "Remember, if you hear the Jaws music, then swim for your life."

He chuckles at my joke, "Yeah, I'll remember that Cassie." He begins running off into the ocean and dives in headfirst.

I smile as I watch him dive. From my distance, he looks like a dolphin and I saw a dolphin at _Seaworld_. Man, I wish I could join him. I so wished that I could see his six-pack again.

Then, in the corner of my eye, I spot someone. This particular person was tall, had long and thick black hair, had dark skin and wore a suit. Who wears a suit on a beach? No one, that's who.

The man appeared to be roundabout twenty-five years old and when I saw him smile at a girl, he had very clean teeth. In all my experiences, I can almost always tell when someone is bad or not. The psychopathic/sociopathic bullies I met on Easter Island, Derek told me how he fought a Mongolian crime boss, and the Neo-Nazis we both fought six months ago.

I know nothing of this man, other than the fact that he _was_ trouble.

As he walks away from the shore, I decide to follow, leaving Derek behind. I put on my sneakers, a shirt, and I follow him.

I follow him all over the beach to a crosswalk with all kinds of civilians. I push myself past them so I can catch up to Man in Suit.

While everyone was waiting for the light to turn green, Man in Suit pulls out a magazine and begins to read it. Why would someone read when they are at a crosswalk; the light could turn green at any second.

I push myself a little closer to the man, but out of his sight to remain undetected. When the light turns green, I start following him, shadowing myself in the crowd.

I followed the man everywhere, eventually into a subway. I stand near the door with some other guy behind my back. Now I had my eyes on the man behind me. Like Man in Suit, I was getting a feeling that the guy standing behind me was trouble. He wore a New York Giants hat over him, what appeared to be soft and brown hair and his skin looked to a pale, most likely due to anorexia. The only thing that distinguishes him from the Man in Suit was he was not wearing a suit, but a leather green jacket and blue jeans. A noticeable trait was there was a long scar on his wrist, it looked as if at some point in his life, he tried to commit suicide but failed. I dubbed him Scar Man.

The subway ride was currently heading to the town square, but I have no intention of going there, all I am doing is following Man in Suit and if Scar Man was affiliated, him.

I swear, that I saw Man in Suit was staring at me. He gives me a death glare before he goes back to reading his magazine.

Behind me, Scar Man was listening to music on his iPhone and quietly mouthing the lyrics to the song. Me, being able to read lips, saw that he was mouthing the lyrics to the song, _OMG _by Usher.

The lights flicker several times before the power finally goes off. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, it appears we are experiencing some technical errors all through the subway. Until we get some information on what is going on, everyone please remain seated and we will play some music for you." Then some emergency lights from below light up, giving off an orange environment.

I did not listen to the music the driver played on the loudspeaker, instead, I focus on Man in Suit and Scar Man.

Since he was presumably unable to read his magazine, Man in Suit rolls up his magazine and puts it away. I see Scar Man put away his headphones and walk towards Man in Suit.

The two walk forward and away from me. I chose not to follow, but instead read their lips, so I move to the center of the aisle so I can read both of their lips.

I was barely able to keep up with them. I only picked up a few phrases.

Man in Suit: That woman is following us, do you think she knows of our plans?

Scar Man: Most likely, I saw her trailing you from the beach.

Man in Suit: What are we going to do?

Scar Man: Ditch her somehow.

I read their lips and I smile. If they thought they were going to get rid of me, then they were way in over their heads. I continue to read them. They say nothing, they are probably aware that I am staring at them.

All of a sudden, the emergency lights go off and now we are left in pitch blackness. When the power came back on, both Man in Suit and Scar Man were back in their original positions. Man in Suit in front with his magazine while Scar Man was behind me and listening to music.

As soon as the subway took off and came to the West Gate station, everyone-including Man in Suit and Scar Man got off. I decided to follow them, but not directly. I pretended to walk in a different station while I kept an eye out for the two suspicious guys. To stay hidden, I bought a pair of clothes and changed in the ladies' room and when I came out, I looked different.

I followed the two very carefully. Whenever they looked back, I walked in a different direction, and then I saw them talking. From what I read, the two had believed they had lost me. They were unaware.

Both Man in Suit and Scar Man walked into a bar, and I could not go in because I was only twenty years old, not twenty-one.

I decided to sneak in and continue to stalk Man in Suit and Scar Man. When I snuck into the bar, Man in Suit and Scar Man were talking to a bartender with long wavy blond hair. I was able to find out that the bartender's name was Sydney. But Man in Suit and Scar Man remain a mystery and what their plans were still unknown. They were not speaking English, but a foreign dialect that only existed in Australia called Tiwi, and luckily, I understand it. Thank you, Aunt Chloe. So these people are Australian or at least know Australian languages.

Man in Suit: Did we plant it, sir, we sure did.

Scar Man: But we had someone follow us.

Sydney: You got rid of them though, didn't you?

Man in Suit: Yes sir, we lost her on the subway.

Sydney: Good, if we are going to rob the national bank in two hours, then we are not allowed to have any loose ends.

I widen my eyes, a bank robbery? Awesome!

Sydney: Remember, we leave the money and steal only the orichalcum, for it is much more valuable.

I ran out of the bar and run straight to the police station. I have to inform someone that there is going to be a bank robbery, but then again, they weren't stealing the money, only the orichalcum. Why does that sound so familiar?

"Officer, there is going to be a bank robbery at the national bank in two hours," I tell, then I remember something in the conversation. "I also found out that they planted something in the subway, most likely when the lights went out."

The young officer sits in his chair and eats a doughnut while typing everything in on his laptop. "Do you know the names of these three robbers?" he asked, "Can you describe them?"

"Well, I only got the name of one of them. He appeared to be the leader, his name was Sydney." Then I went on to describe Man in Suit and Scar Man. "I don't know anything about them, other than the fact that they are fluent in the Australian language called Tiwi." Then I tell him about the orichalcum.

The officer pulls up an image on his computer and shows it to me. "This man?" He matches Sydney's description. Tall, way brown hair, and looked evil. I nod. "His name is Sydney Walker, he is an Australian professor of nanotechnology, astrophysics, and oceanography and is a company CEO turned pirate. He used to run a company called Nano-Revolution, a corporation that makes weapons out of nanotechnology and headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Ever since he went bankrupt in 2028, he began robbing national and international banks all over Oceania, hoping to revive his old company. No one has seen him in over fourteen months."

"What about the suit guy and scar guy?" I ask. The officer shows me pictures of Man in Suit and Scar Man.

"His two right-hand men. The guy in the suit was his head of security back at Nano-Revolution, his name is Christian Vorton, and he has a reputation for being a hot-head because he can lose his temper quickly. And Scar Man, also known as Cody Vaughn is Professor Walker's bipolar enforcer. He is not originally part of Professor Walker's company, but when he tried to commit suicide one time by cutting his wrist, Prof. Walker saved him and he recruited the young man into his arm of pirates."

"So, what kind of partners did Nano-Revolution have?" I ask.

"Terrorists, private military companies, enemy militia, arms dealers, rich and very corrupt politicians in Europe and some kind of terror group called 'Overload' or something. Because of Prof. Walker's partners, that is the reason he lost his company in the first place. He sold weapons. He has no specific type of people he works for, he has no problem in killing thousands of innocent people and he will make sure his weapons are not fully controllable, thus turning his weapons into something more deadly."

Man, this guy was bad. Worse than those Neo-Nazis I dealt with six months ago. But there was one thing that puzzled me, what is 'Overload?' I will have to solve that puzzle later.

"These three men are going to steal the orichalcum in the national bank. If a man like Prof. Walker wants something called orichalcum, then there is no doubt that it is highly dangerous."

"I will call a SWAT team immediately and tell them about Prof. Walker and whatever he planted on that subway." The officer picks up the phone and dials. "McGee, this is Sergeant Langham, we have been informed that there is a potential robbery happening at the Maui National Bank, we need a SWAT team immediately."

I was dressed in a suit and acted like someone who was in the mood for applying as a bank accountant. I was wearing a wire on my belly and a bulletproof vest and all the accountants were undercover cops with guns hidden in every corner possible.

I heard the entrance bell ring and I saw two men walking in. It was Man in Suit - or Christian Vorton - and Scar Man - also known as Cody Vaughn - and they had gas masks on.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm and you may survive this encounter!" Christian shouted, pulling out a revolver from his suit and fires into the ceiling. Me and the 'accountants' take cover.

Cody takes out a grenade of some kind and pulls the pin. I presume that it is some kind of gas grenade, otherwise, neither man would have worn a gas mask. He throws it to the floor. "If you hold your breath, then you may stay conscious!" Cody shouts. So it was a sleeping grenade he threw.

I take a long deep breath of air before I let the smoke consume me. Let's dance Christian and Cody.

All of a sudden, a van drives through the window, but Christian and Cody barely flinch at it. It appeared the van was with them. A man in a gas mask followed by five others also got out of the van and held up their weapons towards the hostages. I doubt one of them was Sydney Walker, but they were most likely his land pirates.

Christian and Cody walked into the bank vault with a large drill and they returned several minutes later holding a yellow canister of something, most likely the orichalcum.

I mentally smile, the 'accountants' behind the desk were armed with M16s and gas masks of their own.

The driver of the van got back in the driver's seat and drove out. He went driving backward with the back doors open, the pirates jump back in.

Just as Christian and Cody were going to load the canister into the van, the accountants emerge and aim their guns at the robbers. Christian and Cody give a look of fear, and then they notice me and I can easily see them glare at me through the visor of their gas masks. They had recognized me.

The pirates already loaded in the van open fired, but we returned fired. I hop over the desk and one of the undercover SWAT guys hands me a gas mask.

I see Christian and Cody load the canister into the van, but I was not going to let them get away. I quickly grab the speargun that an undercover cop brought with and I fired. The end of the spear lodges itself deep into the canister just as the van took off.

I saw the canister rip from their grasps as they drive off. "OH MY GOD!" I hear one of the pirates shout as they realize that they lost the one thing they came for.

The van of pirates did not attempt to drive back and retrieve the canister.

I smile in triumph, the pirates' plans to steal the orichalcum has backfired. The pull the canister towards me before I notice several police cars give chase to the van of pirates.

As the canister was within my reach, I notice something shiny inside. Something had fallen out of the canister and I pick it up. It was a very small and yellow bead that was glowing. It could easily be mistaken for a plant seed. But a man like Sydney Walker, who is a notorious pirate and arms dealer, wanted this, then it must be more powerful than I think. I quickly put the bead in my pocket.

I went back to the beach to look for my friend Derek, who was still in his wetsuit. "Hello," I say casually as I sit down on the bench next to him.

"What happened to you?" Derek asks. I give him a confused look before he explains himself, "I just saw on the News that you were helping undercover cops take out those gangs of pirates at the bank."

"Nothing much just got shot at and foiled the robbers' plan, other than that, I am completely unharmed."

"You left the beach, I thought you were abducted for a second." I completely forgot about him at the beach.

I pull something from my pocket. It was the orichalcum bead. "Lookie lookie," I say in a cheerful voice. He says nothing but takes the bead from my hands without even asking. Do you know what this is? Orichalcum."

"Do you know what orichalcum is?" he asks, trying to emulate a know-it-all, "It is an unnamed element that is connected to the lost city of Atlantis. Plato wrote about it in his dialogue. He said that the orichalcum that I hold in my hand can lead to Atlantis."

I widen my eyes. "Seriously?" Though after hearing about his past adventures, I shouldn't be surprised.

"Yeah seriously."

I was then reminded of something from my childhood. "My grandmother, my namesake, she went looking for Atlantis in 1977, one year after Dad was born," I remember hearing this story so well. "She was so close to finding the lost city, but the press did not believe her. They called her a delusional woman who could not see straight."

He gives me a sad look. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I answer, "My grandmother's reputation from then was damaged. She was now called Cassandra the Delusional Woman." I suddenly got an idea. "Wait, if grandma's reputation has been damaged for all these years, what if we could somehow restore it?" I suggest. I know it was far too early to be doing what I had in mind but I am a born treasure hunter and adrenaline junkie. If I'm not going to get a rush out of doing something dangerous, then I would find some other way of getting a rush. I don't look for lost cities just because, I do it for the fun. They say the important thing in life isn't the destination, but the journey. Yeah right.

"What if we go find the lost city of Atlantis. We will say it is her find and all the credits go to her."

Derek stares at me. "For reals? It's been six months and you barely turned twenty. Don't you want a break from something dangerous?"

"It might not be dangerous, plus I'm missing the thrill of adventure. I'm sure you are as well."

I could see Derek contemplating his decision. I would love to bring Derek along, he was my best friend and crush. Wait a second!

"This should be fun. I'm going with you." I am so happy at his choice and honestly, if he hadn't gone with, I would've stayed. But then again, he went to Mongolia without me so I guess if I went without him, then it would even the score.

I stare at the oricalcium under a microscope. When observing up close, it looked like a bunch of tiny beads floating in water. Man, where did this oricalcium come from? I mean the bead came from Grandma's safe at the bank but I was asking it's specific origin.

I zoom in and I see something written on one of the beads. I quickly grab a piece a paper from my pocket-sized journal and write down what I see. I have no idea what it said, but it appeared to be an ancient language, or it could be the language of the Atlanteans. It could be the language Atlantean, but I knew no language.

So I took the notepad to a book in my library at home to decipher it. Mom and Dad weren't home and I was glad so Derek and myself let ourselves in. I find the book where I learned the Polynesian language and began mentally copying and pasting words together.

"Wait, I know some of this language," I admit awkwardly to Derek behind me. "The lost city of Atlantis lies in a notorious placed called the Devil's Triangle, and today, we call that place the Bermuda Triangle." I widen my eyes. "Well, they do say that Atlantis is in the Atlantic Ocean and the Bermuda Triangle is in the Atlantic Ocean. It makes sense, because on a regular basis, people try their hardest to stay as far as possible from that hellhole. It could also explain the disappearances."

"Sounds like someone is very keen on finding Atlantis. In case you have forgotten, the Triangle is 500,000 square miles, bigger than the Rub al' Khali desert, which is six hundred square miles across." Derek's statement reminded of Dad's Iram of the Pillars adventure. "Okay then, is there anything on that little bead that provides a specific location?"

I study it closer this time. "Nothing?" I then hold up a hand to signal that I found something. "These numbers represent coordinates. Get me a map." He obeys. He writes down the number coordinates that I tell him to write.

"Alright, so far this is all I got from the coordinates," Derek says before he shows me the location. The coordinates of Atlantis were literally in the very center of the Bermuda Triangle. "Cassie, quick question: How are we supposed to get inside the Bermuda Triangle and get out on the other side?"

"Well, in case you have forgotten..People can take a boat ride into the Triangle and come out fine. The disappearances are rare."

I comfort and reassure not only him but myself as well because I don't want to end up in a Lost situation. "Alright then, but are we going to fly into the Triangle or take a boat ride?"

He smiles. "You're the captain, not me."

I suddenly remembered. "Yura," I say to him, "Erkin Yura, remember when we went to Kazakhstan and we met a charming fella named Erkin Yura? Well, he told me that he wants to be a marine archaeologist and boat captain, so I can call him and ask if he could give us a ride."

"Up to you, I am just a helping hand." I quietly laugh at Derek (he could always make me laugh and I love him for it).

"Okay then, I am calling Erkin, he should still be in Oahu." I take out my phone and call Erkin. "Erkin, it's me, Cassie," I say into the phone. "I need a favor, a personal favor. Can you give Derek and myself a boat ride into the Bermuda Triangle?"

Then a dial tone. Guess he hung up, then he called back and answered yes.

"Thank you, Erkin, you are a good friend and helper." I happily hung and turned to Derek, "Get ready for a trip into the Bermuda Triangle."

* * *

A Day Later

Miami, Florida

Derek and I met up with Erkin Yura at the pier in Miami. Erkin Yura was a young man, older than me by two years, had long blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and stood at five-foot-eleven. So Derek was still the tallest one in the group (being six-one). It has been far too long since I've seen Erkin and it felt good to know that he was still a marine archaeologist.

"Hey there Erkin," I say, shaking his hand firmly.

"What's up, Cassie?" he says before turning to Derek. "Derek Lowell, a pleasure to see you again. How many years has it been?

"You too, Erkin," Derek replies, "And the last time I saw you, it was my fourteenth birthday. So six years ago." Derek replies.

"So, two tickets through the Bermuda Triangle?" Erkin asks me. "Are you guys sure, I mean, who knows what monsters await in there."

Just twelve hours ago, we had managed to intercept through this weird writing on the bead the coordinates to Atlantis and using our prior knowledge, looking up books on Plato's dialogue, cross-referenced to deduce that Atlantis was located in the Bermuda Triangle. "We are all sure. We made a unanimous vote. We are all prepared to face whatever monsters we encounter in the Bermuda Triangle."

Erkin sighs, but shrugs. "Alright then. Then I am going with you, the whole way through." He leads the two of us onto a small but durable boat.

I climb in the boat and sit down on a chair. Man the chair was cozy. Get me a fishing line and a bottle of soda and I can stay out here all day.

Derek sat next to me while Erikin was in the cabin.

If there were going to be any monsters, then I would be the first one to spot it. I doubt it though, I did not believe in mythological creatures like the Kraken or the Loch Ness monster, they could easily be explained as something that was mistaken for a monster. Although two years ago, when I was visiting Lake Superior, I saw a Sea Serpent.

But I am not in Lake Superior and chances are, that was not a Sea Serpent (or was it).

"Cassie?" I hear Derek call and I turn to him. "You ready to sail into the Bermuda Triangle?"

"I'm not excited, but if it is worth finding Atlantis and restoring grandma's reputation, then I am ready to sail into the Devil's Triangle." I stare into the clear and blue sky. Man how it looked so beautiful. I then had an epiphany that came back now and then. My feelings for Derek. I never really loved him until the conclusion of my Easter Island adventure although it is most likely a crush I feel like it will evolve into real and passionate love. If that is the case, then I will tell Derek how I feel about him...but when the time is right.

"All hands on deck!" Erkin shouts from the cabin. "Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times!"

What do you mean Erkin, all of our arms and legs are in the vehicle? Can you get drunk from ocean waves? All of a sudden, I feel Derek holds my hand. I gaze at him and I realize that he had fallen asleep. How the hell did he pass out on me? The only time he ever passes out on me is when he sees me naked and it was funny as heck when he did back in Iceland six months ago.

Man, Atlantis, here we come.

Hours later, Derek woke up and the first thing I said to him was: "Who knew that orichalcum was made of uranium, but with no radiation?" I hold the glowing bead in front of him.

He took it and studied it for himself. "It appears to be emitting some kind of energy," he then turns to the sea captain: "Erkin, get me a thermal imaging camera." Erkin obliges and pulls a pair of goggles out of a nearby compartment.

Derek places them over his head and studies the bead carefully. I am assuming what he is seeing is cool because he keeps leaning towards the bead.

"Anybody wants to look through, it looks awesome?" Derek asks everyone in the room (Erkin and I). I saw Erkin raise his hand before putting on the thermal imaging goggles.

I tap Erkin on the shoulder and ask if he could give me the thermal imaging goggles.

I place them around my eyes and gaze at the bead in my hand. What I saw was a brighter and very colorful blue light emitting from the bead. I was able to deduce something three seconds later: "It appears, that the closer we get to Atlantis, then the brighter the bead lights up." I take off the thermal imaging goggles.

"Just like the game hot and cold," Erkin compared, "The closer you get, the warmer you get, the farther you get, the colder you are."

"Nice way of putting it Erkin," I say with my usual sarcasm. "It's not like a game of hide-and-seek where Atlantis hides and the bead seeks. "Erkin, you think these things can work underwater?" I gesture to the thermal goggles.

"Sure can," he answers with a shrug. "They are water-resistant, heat-resistant, freeze-resistant, they are custom made and I have six of them. Enough for the three of us and three to spare."

"Wait for a second, do you think if that bead emits that kind of energy, then do you think Atlantis will emit a similar, but a larger amount of energy?" Derek spoke again.

I pat him on the back. "That is a very good hypothesis, D-Man," I call him by my usual nickname for him, "So, looks like we are going to swim to the bottom of the Bermuda Triangle. Wonder how deep it is."

"Five thousand feet to the deepest, water pressure abnormally normal." Wow, Erkin had that bullet in the chamber. "My brother swam to the bottom of the Bermuda Triangle, he said the water pressure is alright."

I gave him an odd look, "You have a brother?"

"You know about Sergey." I don't remember him mentioning that Sergey was his younger brother.

Night came and I fell asleep with my head falling on Derek's crouch. It was now morning and I was getting dressed into a wetsuit and getting ready to dive right into the waters of the Bermuda Triangle.

Derek came out, already dressed in his red suit and had his yellow oxygen tank and goggles and snorkels on. He was wearing the same wetsuit.

Now we were all dressed. Erkin already said we were anchored and the boat was not going anywhere.

"Age before beauty," I urged Erkin to go first.

"Haha, yeah."

Derek and I check each other's oxygen tanks and snorkels and goggles. Just as we were so sure that we are ready, Derek and Erkin dive first. I was about to jump into the water until I felt something being pressed into my back.

I turned around very slowly and I saw none other than Christian and another boat. And Christian had an AK-47 pointed at my heart. Damn, that son of a bitch snuck on the boat when we were asleep.

"You ruined our plans," Christian says angrily. "You stole that orichalcum from us, you bitch." It appears I have pissed him off and I am proud of it. "I want to kill you, but the boss wants to talk to you, he says there is something familiar in your description."

I counted Christian on Erkin's boat and behind him was another boat and I saw three pirates and Cody. I already had all of my wetsuit gear on, all I had to do was knock the gun out of Christian's hand and I can dive.

I slap the gun away and shove Christian. I backflip into the warm water and I swim as deep as I possibly could, hoping to catch up the others. Then all of a sudden, I felt something grab me. I start thrashing to shake it off but it was no use. Whatever it was, it was reaching for my snorkel.

I slap its hand away and knee the figure in the groin, hopefully. The figure lets go of me and I swam.

I saw the face of an angry Christian, and he looked pissed. He had an oxygen tank, most likely the spare one that we left on the boat. Just as I raised my hands to prepare for an underwater battle, I notice something. It was invisible in the distance but I know I see something. The fish, I presume gets bigger and bigger as it swims closer. No doubt it was a shark. I was not afraid of a shark.

But then, when I saw how huge it looked even from a short distance, I widen my eyes, my heart about to burst in my chest. Oh my god! Oh my God! OH MY GOD!

MEGALODON!

I scream in terror, air bubbles escaping me and I swim away. The last I saw of Christian was him being consumed whole by the Megalodon.

I swim as fast as I can to get as far away as possible from the non-prehistoric shark.

Terror wells up in myself as I see the shark swim towards me. Oh god, this is the end!

The monster opens up his jaws to consume me, but I was spared. The Megalodon swam away from me as if it was terrified by something.

I suddenly remembered that I had the orichalcum with me, so maybe the tiny little bead protected me from that gigantic man-eater.

You're gonna need a bigger boat Erkin.

I swam closer and closer to the bottom, eventually catching up to Derek and Erkin. I finally catch up to them at the bottom of the floor, where I gaze upon my eyes, a pyramid. But this pyramid was made of pure crystal and was transparent to the point of near invisibility.

I see Derek signaling for me to swim towards him with the bead in my hand. I also jerk my thumb upwards, to warn him about the giant shark.

He mustn't have gotten the idea because he was shrugging, but I decided to tell him once we got inside of Atlantis.

I saw Erkin pointing to a small hole at the very tip of the small pyramid. He was indicating that he wanted me to swim in there. What the hell?

I swim in head first and I find myself being spontaneously sucked by some kind of current. I reach out to try and grab hold of something, but no success. Then, I felt someone crash into me, slamming their body weight against mine. I looked and saw Derek, unintentionally grinding against me.

At least I think.

Then the two of us get sucked by the current again. This time, we went flying through a small hole in the wall. I had no idea where to go, so I was relying purely on instinct. I grabbed Derek's hand and I reached for the wall beside me, clawing at anything I could use to hold me. I was still unsuccessful.

I cough up something that I felt was in my throat. I reach for the orichalcum to see if it was still there. I was satisfied when it was but still stuck in a rock and a hard place. But I've been through worse. Me and Derek both.

I am not going to die, I tell myself. I am going to live until I am one hundred years old. And that was a promise I intended to keep.

Then me and Derek went sliding down a hole, but there was no water this time, but we still went sliding down some sort of slide. When the hell was done and over with, we landed on some kind of hard surface. I landed right on my back and the wind was knocked out of me. I was in real pain.

I felt Derek fall right onto me, his knee connected right to my gut. With my back in pain and now my gut, it was putting salt on a wound, adding an insult to an injury.

"I am so sorry Cassie, I did not mean for that to happen," I heard Derek apologize. I told him that it was an accident and I accepted his apology.

He helps me get up to his feet, and I saw Erkin in the corner.

"Are you guys alright?" I ask, concerned.

"When was the last time we weren't alright?" Derek asks sarcastically. Does he want me to answer that question?

"Not all the time are you alright. Just like in Burma and Singapore." I say, remembering the incidents. Both incidents happened ten years ago but I remember perfectly.

"Okay, we don't need to linger on that."

"So, where are we?" I hear Erkin ask.

I was so distracted by the pain, I forgot to look around to see where we were. The walls around us were painted with gold and the ground we stood on was made of pure rubies. I was so tempted to take a ruby that I bent down to pull a ruby out the ground, but I remembered how Dad's Agartha adventured ended up.

Me, Derek, and Erkin follow the path of the rubies. The path led us to this door made of silver. I didn't have enough time to study it before Erkin and Derek pushed the door open. Inside, was some kind of treasury room. Instead of treasure, it was orichalcum that filled the room. Huge piles of orichalcum.

"Man, this is the shiniest pile I have ever seen before in my life," Erkin awes.

I look to my right and see Erkin picking up several pieces of the orichalcum beads. Me and Derek walk over to him. Derek holds his hand out and waits for Erkin to put a bead in.

Once Derek got possession of the seed, he asked, "What is this for?"

I remind him how the orichalcum had saved me from being consumed by the Megalodon. He was shocked but relied on how I managed to survive. "If the orichalcum could save me from the Megalodon, then it could probably save us from other supernatural creatures and forces."

Everyone shoves at least one orichalcum bead into their pockets before we continue, following the ruby path.

I began humming the song, _OMG_ by Usher as we followed the path.

_Baby let me love you down, there's so many ways to love you. Baby I can break you down. There's so many ways to love ya. Got me like oh my gosh, i'm so in love. I found you finally, you make me wanna say oh, oh oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh my gosh._

As I hummed the song OMG by Usher I remembered Scar Man singing the song on the subway.

I continue singing just as we come across a door made of glass, yet not transparent. Although Derek and Erkin were pushing against the door, it remained close. I decided to help those weak bones.

"Okay, on the count of three everyone. One, two, three!" Then all of us give our full force and weight into the door. We were able to push it slightly open, but it was still closed.

"How about we charge it?" Erkin suggest. We give him the odd look. Was this guy insane?

We charged into the door with full force and succeeded in opening the door a bit more, but none of us could squeeze through it.

"Okay, for reals. This is for all the marbles," Erkin said. "Back in Kazakhstan, me and my siblings used to play football and soccer. I have the shoulder for breaking doors down with my shoulder."

"Okay then Von Miller, then how about you put it to good use?"

The three of us smash through the glass door and fell to the floor on the other side.

I push Derek off of me and he helps me to my feet. "Gracias," I thanked. Then I take the opportunity to look to see where we were. We were now in some kind of room that looked to be made of amber, diamond, gold, crystal, silver, bronze, etc. If I didn't know better, I would say that we are at the entrance to Atlantis.

I stare at the room around me. I have never seen such beauty before. In my twenty years alive, I have never seen such beauty. I, Cassandra Morgan Drake, am proud to say that I am a true adventurer and soon-to-be archeologist.

Derek picks up a circular object made of bronze and put it into his pocket. I give Erkin a piece of gold. All I wanted was this necklace made of pure silver.

Taking out my journal, I quickly sketch everything in my journal and laugh. This was one adventure I was never going to forget. Never, ever, ever.

The only path that we could take was another door that was made of pure rubies. The pathway must've ended her. I strode up to it and try to open the door, but no success. I was considering ramming it open until I noticed some kind of hole in the center. It looked to be about the size of a walnut. It was shaped strangely. Then it hit me. "Keyhole," I say.

But then I saw multiple keyholes right next to it. I counted three at least. "Hey guys, come over here. It looks like some kind of puzzle." When I felt their presence behind me, I told them about the door. "We have to insert some kind of key into the keyholes. But what keys, I do not know." I say.

"Maybe it has something to do with these silver and gold pieces," Derek suggests. He was onto something. Maybe the silver and gold acted like some kind of keyholes, but with keyhole did they go in, I had no idea.

I took out my silver necklace and insert it into one walnut-sized keyhole. Nothing happened, but there was a small clatter.

"Maybe we have to put them in a certain order," Derek says. "Maybe it's color-coded."

"I think I got it. Maybe we have to match the colors up with their level of color visibility. Since crystals are clear, they would go on the first keyhole while the gold would go on the end cause it has less color visibility."

"Good thinking Cassie, good thinking," Derek patted me on the back.

I watch patiently as Erkin inserts his piece into the keyhole. Just as Derek was about to put his circular bronze piece in, I heard something behind me.

I snap around and I saw none other than Cody himself and six other pirates in wetsuits, aiming assault rifles at me.

I look over my shoulder and see Erkin and Derek raising their hands. Derek did, however, put the bronze piece in the hole though. Although nothing happened.

"Look who it is," Cody says smugly, "Cassie Drake and these two." Cody raises his gun to my eye level.

"How did you get here. I though the Megalodon was guarding the entrance to the pyramid?" I ask.

"Professor Walker was able to figure something out for us." I did not get what he meant. "He is the smartest man in the world."

"Listen, if you're going to shoot someone, shoot me," Derek steps in front of me. I was so terrified that Cody might pull the trigger then I begged him not to do this. "Get back," he ordered firmly.

"You know, the boss does want to have a little chit-chat with you, Ms. Drake," Cody says, lowering his gun. "My job is to take you to him and get rid of your friends." I could sense anger rising in Derek. I was about to say something until I heard a clatter, and it wasn't coming from the door, but from the door behind the seven pirates.

Cody and another pirate turned around very slowly to see something, although I could not see it myself.

"Liebel, shine a light," Cody orders to one of his pirates. Liebel shines a light, but I could still not see what they were looking at.

Then I heard Cody shout. He yelled for his pirates to turn around and fire. Before I knew it, I saw Liebel being yanked into the darkness and dropping his flashlight to the ground.

We all stood there silent, too terrified to talk or move. Cody drops down to the ground to pick up the flashlight and shine it down the hall. I stepped forward to see what was going on and I barely saw a wall made of pure gold. It looked to be a beautiful painting, the only odd thing was Liebel was in there, and his face was frozen in terror. That is when I realized, that whatever yanked Liebel, it turned him into a gold statue. What a horrible way to die.

Then several figures jumped at us and the pirates. Cody and another pirate backed as far away as possible while the others fired off everything they had. I saw two of the pirates get grabbed and yanked forward towards the wall with the golden Liebel.

Cody and the three remaining pirates backed up and fired at the monsters.

"Wait, I think I got it backward," I tell them. "I think I got it backward. Switch them up!" I order. I knew that the silver piece was where it was supposed to be because of silver in the in-between point.

I saw Cody run out of bullets as he fired endlessly at something in the hallway. Then, I saw a hand grab Cody's leg and yank him followed by another pirate. The other two pirates were cowering in the corner and far from the monsters' reach.

I saw something lunge for me. I barely had any time to process it but it looked to be some kind of skeleton in armor. He grabbed me by the hair and yanked me backward. I screech in pain and tell the others to hurry up.

What I see has terrified me. The pirate had become part of the gold wall and Cody was already up to his waist in the wall.

Just as I thought I was going to become part of the wall, whatever grabbed me, had released my hair from his grip and walked out of sight. I was still unable to get a clear view as to what it was. But I did get a clear view if Cody's predicament though.

He was buried up to his chest in the wall, his face purple due to the pain. It was something that made me sad. Every time he screamed in pain, I cringed. "Please help me!" He shouted.

I didn't hesitate to grab his free arms and yank. I was unsuccessful and my yanking only caused him more pain. I stopped yanking immediately. "I can't pull you out."

"No, don't leave me like this!" he shouts in terror, his face turning even more purple.

"What do you want me to do?" I ask.

"Kill me! Please! Do what I tried to do several years ago. Kill me!"

I was hesitant. I even broke a tear, but the more I waited, the more pain that was brought to him. I grab his neck and twist it. I had a flashback after that of all the people I have killed. Peyton Piers. Rudolf Schneider. And now Cody Vaughn.

I watch as his head stiffened at an unusual angle.

Something had fallen out of his breast pocket. A pack of cigarettes. It reminded me of Sully's and Uncle Sam's.

The door with the keyholes opened. I turned to see Erkin holding a dropped gun and holding the two surviving pirate hostages.

"Everyone alright?" I hear Erkin ask. I nod to him. "Good, cause the door is opened."

Me, Erkin, Derek, and the two pirate hostages walk through the door and find ourselves in none other Atlantis itself. I was met with a familiar heartbeat. This is how I felt when I found Hawaiki and Ultima Thule. I couldn't believe that I was actually in another lost city. It felt good to be inside a lost city of a lost civilization.

"Man, that familiar feeling has come back," I gasp pathetically.

The lost city of Atlantis had bridges stretching for at least one hundred feet and below was lava. One odd thing was there were a lot of snakes slithering around my legs. I swore that one of them was climbing up my leg and crawling into my pants.

Derek quickly picked up the snake and threw it to the side, harmlessly of course. Even though I don't hate snakes, I don't want them to get hurt. I despise animal cruelty.

"You alright?" he asks me. I nod, reassuring him. "Okay then, cause I was about to kill that snake if he did something to you."

"No, don't kill it," I beg him. "It's not intentionally hurting me. It's not evil."

"But it could have been poisonous," he counters. He wanted to pull that card.

"Then I would have had you suck out the poison. Simple as that."

"Ha ha ha." I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic with his laugh, or genuinely laughing. I'm gonna go with the former. He was being sarcastic (I'm supposed to be the funny one).

All of the buildings inside Atlantis were made of brick but the windows were made of crystals. I have always dreamed of finding Atlantis and now I have found it. I legit cannot believe it.

Me, Derek, Erkin, and the two pirate hostage walk across the bridge of lava. I looked down and fifty feet below me was real lava the seemed to be heating the place.

Where to go, who knows. Me and the others were just walking across the bridge and wandering endlessly until we found a gateway. It had to be the gateway to the center of the city. I then reminded myself. We were here to restore grandma's reputation, not for gold or money.

I walk very carefully into the gateway with the others following me very closely. If I didn't know better, I would say that this massive room with a huge pillar in the center of the room was the center of Atlantis.

The stonework on the floor looked to be Atlantean. I did some research on the language of the Atlanteans. I was not fluent, I barely learned a few words but I could make out some. If I studied more than I wouldn't have been so rusty.

I bend down to read the Atlantean language. All I was able to make out was 'Power' and that was it. But then I started rephrasing a bunch of quotes that Plato said in his dialogue about power.

"Power to ten, death to one." I had no idea what that meant. No idea at all.

Then, I felt something pressed to the back of my head. It was cold, hard and smelt of gunpowder. I did not need to look around to see who it was. There was only one person who it could be: Sydney Walker.

Why am I always held at gunpoint? It is starting to piss me off.

"Hello, Ms. Drake." I knew the usual, raise my hands and turn around slowly. I counted Walker, two pirates that came in with him and the two freed pirate hostages. "Ms. Drake, it is such a pleasure to see the girl that ruined everything up to this point."

"Listen," Derek began defending, "Don't hurt any of us. Just kill me but let her and Erkin go. They are good people."

"Why would I want to do that; I haven't told you my biggest plan yet. I don't want to kill any of you, just see how much people are willing to bid to lay next to you and your boyfriend and girlfriend in bed."

That did it because I was lunging for Walker and we both almost went falling into the pit of lava.

I was exchanging fists and eventually we both tumbling to the floor and almost rolling over the edge and into the lava.

I felt so helpless as a pirate went to restrain me and get me off of Walker and shove me back towards Derek.

"Well, that was unexpected," Walker dusted himself off. "But I have an even bigger plan." He walks up to me and begins to stroke my cheek. "Did you know that in the Atlantis legends, orichalcum is what made the Atlanteans gods?"

I did not know that. Then I felt his hands around my pelvis. I felt adrenaline in my heart as I kicked him in the groin. He flinched and stumbled backward, almost falling into the pit of lava, but stopped himself.

"That was rude, but I like how you got a spark in you. Make you more valuable."

"You were saying about the gods," a pirate reminded.

"Thanks, Steve. Anyways, the orichalcum is what made these Atlanteans, gods. And I intend to be a god. I want you and your friends to witness my grand glory before I sell you."

I was fuming, I felt my face turn red from anger. I wanted to kill him so badly.

The pirates had removed us of the orichalcum we had in our pockets and we walked towards the pillar in the center of the room.

"This should be fun," I hear one pirate.

"How much orichalcum have you four collected?" Walker asks his pirates.

"three from the hostages, and seven that we collected ahead of time," Steve answered. How could he trust a middle-aged man named Steve?

"Excellent, then our plans should be successful. Ten for ten." He turns to me, "You know what this pillar in the center of the room is? A machine called 'The God Machine' it was just as Plato himself described it. Ten beads of orichalcum should turn us all into gods!" I had to stall for time. I had to use my wits instead of my fists. I remember Derek and I comparing the beads and Plato's dialogue and found a bunch of errors, especially ones involving tenfold and we decided to manipulate that logic to tip the balance in our favors.

"Wait a second. What about Plato's tenfold error? Like Atlantis being three hundred miles from Greece instead of three thousand miles from Greece? Also, he mentioned about ten Atlantean guardians, but I saw only one of them. Or what about him writing about Atlantis being three thousand feet below the surface instead of three hundred feet below the surface?"

I could see it. All of Walker's confidence had completely shattered, but he put on his mask again. "She may be right. We shall divide by ten. Try one bead." Steve puts one bead of orichalcum in a hole in the pillar and steps on a square spot in the ground.

All of a sudden, a small laser beam from the God Machine shot into Steve's head and he grew seven feet tall. I knew I had successfully tricked them. One was not enough, that's what I read. All the other stuff that I said was wrong in tenfold was true. Instead of turning into a god, he shrunk to the size of a dwarf and his head grew horns and his skin turned gray and he had the face of a little minotaur from Greek mythology.

"NO!" Steve shout before he runs in my direction and jumps into the pool of lava, disappearing. The first time I had seen someone commit suicide. I couldn't blame him, he was unable to live with what he had become.

"Well, that didn't work. Maybe we got this backward. Maybe we have to multiply ten by ten." Walker says, smiling at me. "Go get more beads, quickly!"

Several minutes later, two pirates came back with a crapload of beads in each hand.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine," Walker counted the beads the pirates were putting into the machine. "One hundred beads!" He cheers before he steps into the same spot that Steve was stepping in earlier. The same laser shot at Walker's head and his skin began to turn green. "Yes, I am a god! America and Australia will kiss my feet!"

I smile. One hundred beads was an overdose and I doubted that he could handle it.

The three living pirates stared at their leader as he turned into a god. Then the most unexpected thing, even to me, happened.

Walker began growing in height until he screamed with either pain or terror as he fell apart. His body had become too unstable for himself to handle and he was becoming nothing more than a dematerialized atom in a split second.

Good riddance Sydney Walker.

Then there was an earthquake. The overdose of beads had caused an eruption in the center of the city and the place began collapsing.

Me, Derek, Erkin, and the three pirates ran for our lives as the place began to cave in. Structures were falling and the ground started collapsing behind us. I knew that as soon as we got to the doorway to Atlantis, then we had to swim up quickly because we are three hundred feet below sea level. I was not destined to drown. But we did not have our oxygen tanks with us. So all we had to do was take a deep breath and swim as quickly as possible to the surface. We didn't have to worry about the Megalodon because all six of us took a piece of orichalcum for protection.

The six of us dive into the water current from earlier after taking a really deep breath each. We were swept along the current, but I kept holding my breaths. As soon as we were out of the pyramid, I saw it blow up a million pieces. Me and the others swim up immediately.

My lungs were on fire. They needed air. I swam faster to the surface, not stopping for anything at all. I felt my vision starting to blacken until I finally felt pressureless. My head had surfaced and my vision and breathing returned to normal, but I still gasped for air.

I could not believe it, I just swam three hundred feet and came up to the surface.

I saw Erkin's boat and swam towards it. I quickly climbed on board and took a second to catch my breath. I could not believe how exhausted I was. Then I felt someone by my side, it was Derek. I looked up to see Erkin and even the three pirates climb on board.

I saw a fully recovered Derek grab two of the pirates and put them in the corner, followed by the last one. No doubt that they would find a nice place in jail for the three pirates.

Minutes later, Erkin was on the wheel and driving us right out of the Bermuda Triangle. Another adventure succeeded.

"Shame we were unable to prove of Atlantis existence.," I say to myself. I didn't realize I talk loud enough for Derek to hear as he sat down next to me.

"You might want to rephrase that," I heard him say dryly. I look around and see him holding a waterproof camera and it had pictures on it. Of Atlantis Itself.

"Derek, you beautiful son-of-a-bitch." I could not believe that we finally got evidence that Atlantis existed and grandma's reputation would be restored.

"You thought I was as going to leave without taking pictures? You need to open your mind up Daughter of Nathan Drake." I shrug. "By the way, like what you said about me being a beautiful son-of-a-bitch. I like the beautiful part especially."

I laugh at his comment. "Whatever you say beautiful. How about this. You very beautiful son-of-a-bitch?"

"Hey, that sounds pretty good. You are truly your father's daughter."

"Of course I am. After all, I am Cassandra Morgan Drake, the Daughter of Nathan Drake." I lean forward.

I decide to turn in for the night. Erkin was already halfway back to Miami, but I decided to nap it out. I sat down on the couch and closed my eyes and I slowly drift off to sleep.

I grin while my eyes were still closed. The best thing about this adventure was not finding Atlantis, it was spending time with my friends. This was one of my favorite adventures yet. Every adventure that I have been on, the journey has always been worth it and I can't wait for the next one. I hear Cambodia is beautiful this time of year, or at least in November.

The End of Chapter 4


	5. Drake Reborn

READ _UNCHARTED: DRAKE REBORN_, IT'S CHAPTER 5


	6. The Tales of Mauna Kea

READ _UNCHARTED: THE TALES OF MAUNA KEA_, IT'S CHAPTER 6


	7. The Ancient Pharaoh

READ _UNCHARTED 2: THE ANCIENT PHARAOH_, IT'S CHAPTER 7


End file.
